Raider of Tartarus
by Lexi13930
Summary: It wasn't his fault but of course he got blamed anyway, that seemed the way of the gods after all. He'd been banished into the shadows, long lost to the light. But all it took was a few Demigods before he came back fighting. Maybe Zeus should have thought his plan through better.
1. Chapter 1 - In the beginning

**This is just an idea I came up with that I ended up writing 8 pages for… This is just the beginning so please tell me what you think!**

 **So this is about the idea that Zeus found out about Poseidon breaking the oath when Percy was 6 and in a fit of rage sent the poor boy to Tartarus. He was presumed dead and life moved on. When Nico ,Thalia ,Jason , Leo, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel and Piper were sent down there to close the close the doors of death they run into him and see what Hell does to a person.**

 **Edited - 28/11/16 or 11/28/16, it depends on where you live XD**

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

* * *

 ***~Raider of Tartarus~***

* * *

 **Thalia**

They were the greatest heroes of their generation, or at least that's what they had grown up believing. They had conquered monsters that few had dared to even look at and had completed quests for the Gods without a flicker of complaint. Maybe they weren't the heroes of legends but they had lived to tell the tale of their quest which was more than others could say.

Thalia took pride in her status as a hero and didn't hesitate to use it to scare the younger campers – she was a teenager so scaring people was her specialty. However, she couldn't help but wish she was just another camper as they wondered around Greek Hell.

She couldn't believe the nerve of the Gods. How dare they send the eight of them down there? No, scratch that, she couldn't believe that they had sent them without their consent. Not even a simple yes or no question was asked before Zeus sent them to fix a problem that was supposedly his fault to begin with. Funny, it always seemed to be his fault.

She looked around at the group of people around her and felt a shock of anger which she sent straight to her father, Zeus. Yes, the daughter of Zeus was stuck underground in the land of mist, shadow and death. Sounds fun right? Wrong.

Heck, they didn't even have a map, probably because that would've been too easy and from Thalia's experience life was never easy. The Gods had informed them that they couldn't give them a map because they weren't allowed to directly interfere with the will of the fates; Thalia assumed that that roughly translated to 'we can't be bothered'.

Why were they down in Greek Hell? What a good question, Thalia let her mind wander back the last meeting they had on Olympus.

 _~Flashback~_

"Demigods," Zeus bellowed Thalia winced at the loud noise raising an eyebrow, "It has come to my attention that the attacks have increased dramatically these past few days." Thalia let her eyes flicker across to the other Gods all of whom look very annoyed, how long had they been trying to convince the King of the Gods of the danger their children were in? How long had it been until he cared?

"We have come to the conclusion that the Doors of Death have been compromised," Athena continued, Thalia let a frown fall upon her face. She had vague memories of Annabeth telling her about the doors.

"By who?" Thalia asked the Goddess preparing herself for the bad news.

"We aren't sure," Apollo answered looking up from his phone for the first time since they arrived. "But it's something not on our side, so to speak," Apollo shoved some headphones in his ears and Thalia could hear the loud notes escaping. Hermes pulled them out and the two dissolved into bickering. 'Men' she thought rolling her eyes.

"Whoever had the door under their control has now got a whole army of monsters and titans under their control, they must be stopped," Athena swivelled her head to meet the gaze of her father with a brutal smile on her lips. Oh dear, Athena seemed to have stolen her father's glory, Thalia grinned putting a hand over her mouth to try to hide the action.

"We can't do it, you see…" Hermes told them trailing of at Zeus' glare. With a loud huff the God turned back to Apollo and began chatting with him.

"It is not in our nature nor is it in the law of the fates to close to doors," Zeus straightened his spine and seemed to force a smile on his face. Once again Thalia found herself thinking longingly of her bed, it was too early for the faff that was currently going on.

"Don't you just need to go to the House of Hades?" Annabeth asked tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear only for it to ping back in front of her eyes a moment later.

"The doors can't be closed from the mortal side," Dionysus sighed stroking an empty glass of wine, Thalia could only imagine where its contents had gone. Out of the corner of her eye Thalia saw Annabeth grow pale.

"Ok then, where is the other side?" Jason asked stepping forward to stand next to her, Thalia frowned as she stared up at him very annoyed that her younger brother was taller than her.

"Tartarus," Annabeth muttered her voice wearing a cloak of horror.

"'Tartarus' as in the star sign?" Leo asked tilting his head to the side. Annabeth shot him a tired look.

"Taurus is a star sign, Valdez, Tartarus is…." Annabeth trailed off wringing her hands together and watching the shadows wearily, "Hell" she finished simply cringing at the word. Leo blinked before hiding behind Jason as if Hell was coming for them.

"Don't be a wimp, Flame boy," Thalia scolded reaching around to slap the boy on the arm.

"I'm not afraid of Tartarus," Leo denied cheeks bright with fire. Maybe if Thalia embarrassed him enough he'd burst into flame.

"I take that as a volunteer to go and close the doors then? Great, I hope you enjoy your vacation and do send me a postcard," Thalia grinned waving her hand in a goodbye the life drained out of the boy's face and Thalia grinned triumphantly.

"No, we can't go there surely," Jason demanded turning to their father with a look of utter betrayal on his face. Thalia frowned as her and Leo's argument ended.

"What's the alternative?" Athena asked them her gaze fixed on Annabeth.

"We could go live our lives as hermits in the Arctic," Leo suggested.

"Or we could ignore it, maybe if we do it will go away," Thalia pointed out making sweeping motions with her hands in a 'go away' gesture.

"No, you have to solve the problem now before it gets worse," Ares snapped as if he actually cared. The god was probably looking forward to the inevitable fights they would have to endure.

"I really don't see how it could get much worse," Thalia shook her head folding her hand into a fist and placing it under her chin as she tried to look as if she was in deep thought.

"There are worse things in Tartarus than monsters," Athena informed them gravelly, Thalia heard Leo gulp and poked the boy in the ribs muttering 'wuss' under her breath.

"Like what exactly?" Frank moved forward folding his big arms over his muscled chest.

"Our father," Hades drawled appearing out of nowhere, Thalia almost jumped at his appearance but her pride kept her feet firmly on the ground.

"He was destroyed," Zeus dismissed scowling at his brother. Hades was either naïve of the action or he didn't care.

"Kronos said the same thing about us yet here we are," Hades countered sitting down elegantly on his throne, his robes spilled out around him like his own personal shadow.

"All thanks to me," Zeus folded his arms over his chest like an impertinent child. Thalia sent Jason her best 'Oh My Gods' look. Her brother looked away his face crinkling with withheld anger.

"Sorry to interrupt, but shouldn't we formulate a game plan to try to solve the problem," Frank asked blushing right down his neck as the two Gods stared at him.

"We already have," Apollo answered with a shrug.

"Oh great," Leo grinned. "Care to tell," Leo asked after a long moment of silence. Thalia couldn't help but feel like the conversation was running in circles, they knew what they were going to end up doing yet everyone was procrastinating saying it out loud. It was set in stone whether the Gods were going to acknowledge it or not.

"They want a group to go down to Hell to close the doors for them," Thalia explained staring at her father with her spine straight and her gaze blank.

"Tartarus, not hell," Annabeth corrected mildly Thalia turned to stare at her friend clicking her tongue in mild annoyance. Thalia shrugged running a hand through her hair.

"Yes," Athena cut in her eyes shining with a hidden emotion Thalia couldn't grasp.

"Well…how do I put this kindly… not in a million years," Leo drawled staring at the Gods as if they had grown another set of heads. Heck that would've been less surprising considering what the Gods had done in the past.

"You don't have a choice," Ares hissed to her left she saw Leo's arms sparked with fire.

"This isn't fair!" Jason shouted his eyes so dark they made the shadows on Hades' robes look bright.

"It isn't about fairness it's about surviving," Athena folded her arms over one another and placed them on her lap, she peered down at Jason with curiosity.

"If this was about surviving you would've told us about this when you lost control of the doors nearly ten years ago," a new voice snapped. Thalia whirled around to stare at Nico di Angelo, the Ghost King.

"We were only compromised a few days ago," Zeus dismissed but he shifted slightly in discomfort.

"Ten years? It's strange how dates line up isn't it?" Poseidon hummed. Thalia tried to hide her flinch, the Sea God was a big ball of mystery that never ceased to scare her. He hadn't always been like he was rather he used to be a reasonably pleasant person but then this huge fight occurred between him and Zeus, the God had never been the same since.

"That has no relevance," Zeus dismissed while Poseidon curled his hands around his trident tightly.

"You will pay for your mistakes one day, brother dearest," Poseidon threatened. Jason opened his mouth and moved forward but Nico stepped in front of him and shook his head with a wicked smirk.

"Are you threatening me?" Zeus demanded as the sky flashed with lightning.

"No but he is," Poseidon sighed as the shadows shuddered as if they were laughing, or maybe crying. It was hard to tell the difference sometimes. Thalia furrowed her brow, who was 'he'?

"He's dead," Zeus waved off but there was something off in the God's eyes that showed he thought something very different than what he was saying.

"No, brother, he's not and he will come from you. Not this day and not the next but someday…someday," Hestia whispered from her place by the Hearth. Her voice danced around the room like the fire and Thalia found herself relaxing slightly.

"No he won't," Zeus snapped shooting to his feet. "He was destroyed, he's gone and he's never coming back!" The God roared then he turned to their meagre group and without giving them a second to prepare he sent them to Hell.

~End of Flashback~

The group of them had woken up in Tartarus thoroughly peeved off, especially Nico who kept muttering, 'should've stayed at home' under his breath. Thalia snickered when she heard but his death glare had her shutting her mouth quickly.

By her count, which was very dodgy, they had been down there for nearly a week and according to Annabeth they had been lucky not to have fallen down as it takes days to fall from the surface. 'Yeah, lucky,' Thalia had replied but she had understood eventually; the floor of Tartarus was covered in rubbish that had no doubt fallen from the top. It was all mangled beyond recognition, the idea that that was nearly them terrified her to no end.

After that Jason, Nico, Annabeth, piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo and I were sent to Tartarus. Luckily we were magically transported here so we didn't have to do the whole 'falling for days' entrance.

"My legs hurt," Leo complained for the umpteenth time, everyone simply glared at him and he snapped his mouth shut. She chuckled and he scowled at her with no heat. _(Is that a pun? I can't tell.)_

"Annabeth do you know we're we are?" Thalia asked there group leader as they took a sudden left the daughter of Athena merely shrugged which was, surprisingly, not that reassuring. In dead silence they walked onwards into the darkness, exhausted.

* * *

 **Nico**

The son of Hades had spent the majority of his life in the safety of the shadows; he wasn't called the Ghost King for nothing. But even he was getting sick of the tightness of the air and the rumble of the caverns, it really didn't help that Jason let out a gasp of fear every time a chip of rock fell from the ceiling as if the whole place was about to tumble.

In Tartarus it was impossible to tell where to go. It was so repetitive yet every inch seemed more horrifying than the last. Thankfully Tartarus had a sort of eerie glow about it that meant they weren't about to go stumble off a cliff or something – wouldn't that be funny?

They hadn't run into many monsters so Nico was hopeful that Zeus had managed to veil them from their sight but he knew that it was a fools hope – the demons of hell would find them eventually and part of Nico was looking forward to them showing their ugly heads, at least he'd have something he could whack with his blade. He really needed to let off some steam before Nico had to sacrifice Leo as his training dummy, he knew that he wanted to.

They turned around another path into a large opening about the size of a three basketball courts – big but not startlingly so. Nico and the others were all exhausted to the bone and starving. Annabeth hadn't given them much time to rest since they'd arrived; she'd told them that the quicker they find the door the quicker they would be back home. He didn't think that was quite the right logic after all, did the girl really think that they'd just casually stroll up to whoever had control of the doors and by a premium ticket and close the doors?

Ha, not likely. How strong would someone have to be to leash Tartarus under their control without the Olympians able to stop them? Nico knew that something had changed ten years ago. It all linked the opening of the doors, the fight between Zeus and Poseidon, and the mourning of the sea God that had followed.

He was just missing one piece of the puzzle and once he found it everything would become clear. Nico wasn't sure what was going to follow his discovery but he just knew that he needed to find out sooner rather than later, they had already wasted too much time. That was entirely Zeus' fault, there was no point denying it.

Nico was rudely interrupted from his thoughts by the clash of metal on metal as two swords collided. He drew his weapon, rolling out of the way to avoid a fatal swipe at his head, and turned to his attacked growling like a feral dog. In front of them were a dozen or so hell hounds, a few Cyclopes and a towering Titan, who Nico didn't recognise.

Oh yes, Nico grinned, finally. With a smirk plastered to his face the son of Hades reaped havoc upon the demons unaware of the boy who watched him in amusement.

* * *

 ****End of chapter 1****

* * *

 **A.N: Thank you for reading. Did anyone catch the TWD reference?** **XD**

 **Ok wow my writing was crap when I first wrote this, it was actually painful to read, I'm not saying my writing isn't still crap but it is mildly less crap. I think I'm not permanently stuck in a cringe position because I've cringed so much today. Oops, well this was needed. Actually I just re-read this to make sure I hadn't got any plot holes but this chapter upset me so much I re-wrote the entire thing.**

 **Ok so I've changed the story slightly:**

 **1.** **Nico did go to the Lotus casino but is still the same age as the others (16) and Bianca did exist and did pass away, urg her death was so sad. Her death will be different from the books but still as traumatic as before.**

 **2.** **Jason and Thals didn't go the Camp together and met when they were both 13 as a quest clashed introducing the Greeks to the Romans a few years ahead of the original cannon.**

 **3.** **Thalia was a tree until she was 12 when the Sea of Monster quest occurred. Again it was much different but will be explained.**

 **4.** **Kronos didn't rise as he needed Percy to do so for reasons that shall be explained later on, Gaea hasn't either but patience children. It shall happen… possibly off camera. I don't know really, it deepens on whether I do a sequel or just an epilogue.**

 **5.** **I'm not focusing on the re-write as I'm writing an awful lot at the moment and the last thing I need right now is another thing to have to worry about. But over time I shall edit this fic.**

 **Please tell me if you enjoyed this re-write more or less than the original. It really does help.**


	2. Chapter 2 - First meetings

**Hello everyone!**

 **I just want say a massive thank you to everyone who's favorited, followed and reviewed this story. It really means a lot!**

 **Edited** **\- 23-Dec-2016. Holy Hera, its Christmas Eve tomorrow, where the Hades has 2016 gone!**

 _ **Disclaimer: As if I could come up with anything as awesome as PJO, I'm flattered at the thought but sadly no, I am not that creative.**_

* * *

*~Raider of Tartarus~*

* * *

 **Nico**

They fought in some mockery of a battle formation. Honesty, how could they have forgotten everything they had learnt over the years about battle manoeuvres and tactics in a matter of seconds? Nico was ashamed of himself, or well, he was slightly ashamed, he was mostly just hungry; they hadn't had much to eat since they first arrived and he hadn't exactly been a big eater before Tartarus either.

Nico was rudely interrupted from his brooding by a hellhound taking a swipe at his ankles, he heard a mean 'rip' and hoped that it was just the fabric tearing not his flesh; ankles always took forever to heal.

"Nico! To your left!" Jason cried out to him from a dozen metres away. Nico easily leapt out of the way of a swipe at his head and drove his Stygian sword into the crook of the cyclops' neck.

Was it wrong to absolutely love the look of horror on the monster's face before it disintegrated into inappropriately bright, golden dust? A couple of specks of dust fell onto his jacket, the colour clashed horribly with its dark hues making Nico gag internally.

Somehow their foes had managed to get them all shoved together in a tight circle, they were all facing out and cutting down anything that got close to them. To be honest, it looked pretty awesome – it was a bit like a dramatic shot out of a superhero movie.

So of course, someone messed up and the whole fight went to Hades, Nico wished that he was surprised but he really wasn't. How many fights had they been in before? A lot. How many plans had they made for said fights? A lot. How many plans haven't gone tits up? Nada

The titan that Nico saw earlier had decided to make its grand entrance. Nico scanned over its form looking for any similarities between the titan and what he knew about each individual titan. Their enemy was a terrifying total of about 20 feet tall; he towered over them like a mountain.

Elaborate black armour, similar to Nico's own blade, was fitted to the titan's body like a second layer of impenetrable skin. In short; he was completely and utterly petrifying. The fact just made Nico more excited to cut him down.

"Koios," Annabeth whispered her voice veiled with horror, Nico mentally slapped himself for not figuring out the Titan's identity sooner.

"Ah, you recognise me? I'm flattered," Koios drawled his voice dryer than the Sahara desert.

"We aren't going to hurt you; let us pass," Piper called up to the titan, her voice soft and thick with charmspeak.

"You're pretty little voice and face won't help you down here," Koios laughed his voice rippled around the room in the form of a mild earthquake.

"Just let us go," Piper ploughed on, yet her eyes showed a hint of wariness that Nico hadn't seen prior to Koios' words. Koios let out another booming laugh, almost lazily; he leant against the cavern walls and grabbed a handful of the rocky substance that the room was made of and crushed it over their heads.

Nico rolled out of the way on instinct, his heart pounded in his throat like the marching of feet. Behind him the rest of the team let out a shriek as Koios used the distraction to scoop Thalia up in one of his meaty palms. Thalia made no sound as she was lifted to a fatal height yet her efforts were wasted as fear radiated off her.

"Thalia!" Jason cried out taking a useless step towards the towering demon. Nico felt a stab of sympathy for the boy; Nico of all people knew what it was like to have to watch the one person in the world that you loved be crushed by something out of your control.

"Let me go," Thalia instructed calmly and although her voice was a little bit higher than normal she didn't sound pathetic, rather she sounded quite strong.

"Hmm, let me think about it," Koios hummed cocking his head down at Thalia eyes bright with humour. They was he looked at her made Nico's chest tighten with a foreign emotion.

"What are you doing Koios?" A voice called from the distance, raspy and evil with a strong New York accent that had Nico frowning in confusion.

"Stay out of this," Koios snapped tightening his grip around his prey until Thalia let out a light groan. Next to him, Jason looked murderous, a look that really didn't suite his innocent face.

"What's the fun in that?" the voice asked sounding genuinely curious. Nico scowled into the distance hoping that whoever was speaking would go away; this was their fight, no one else's.

"These people are trespassers," the titan answered instead, his voice steadily rising with poorly veiled fury. "And they are the gods' spawns," Koios spat the words out as if they were the very thing that brought him misery.

"Ah, I see," the voice hummed lightly, "so how do you plan on dealing with them?" once again the speaker's American accent made an appearance as he, for it definitely was a he, spoke.

"I plan to tear them apart, slowly. Limb by limb," Koios purred peering at them with freezing cold white eyes.

"That sounds like a lot of effort," the voice complained his voice shifting until it came from the ceiling. Nico stared at it, searching fruitlessly for their intruder.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Koios snapped even as he drew himself up offended and a little bit disappointed.

"Yet you wanted it, how strange," the boy or man muttered. Nico dared a look at Thalia who was watching the roof, deathly pale. Maybe she could see the speaker from her higher vantage point.

"They're an annoying bunch; they have killed many of us-" 'us'? –"in the past, it's time for pay back," Koios snarled clenching his fist around Thalia until the girl screamed. Nico winced and moved to block Jason as the boy looked ready to charge at the powerful titan before them.

"You really can't talk about killing people," the voice pointed out.

"Oh, be quiet," Koios snapped. "Let's end this, shall we?" More squeezing; more screaming. Nico wanted to kill the titan himself as an almost-sob tore from Thalia's mouth. Nico didn't think he'd ever heard the girl cry except the time when she and Jason were reunited.

The voice didn't reply, Nico waited patiently for him to open his big mouth again but apparently their guest had taken the comment to heart. Or at least, Nico thought that he had until their guest became their saviour and killed the titan before them.

* * *

 **?**

He didn't like demigods very much, well; he didn't like the ones he had met. There hadn't been a lot but they had all been a rather bland bunch; all talk and no bite.

'I am the greatest demigod to ever exist and I'm going to save the worlds and blah blah blah,' He usually tuned out their incessant moaning at about the fifth word that came out of their mouths. They all said the same thing so what was the point listening to it more than once? He had much better uses for his time, thank you very much.

"Come one little demigods, don't be shy," Koios the King of annoyingness, yes that was his real name, cooed to the children beneath him. From his point on the ceiling it was extremely difficult to make out and distinctive features on the demigod's faces so he didn't bother trying to differentiate between one and another.

He did, however, notice the one in Koios' palm. Not that she was special but she was the closest and was probably the only one out of her group that could see him. She opened her mouth, not removing her sky-blue eyes from his…. he wasn't sure what colour eyes he had, huh.

He pressed a finger to his mouth in a common 'shut up' action, he hoped that she would listen to him but most people very rudely ignored his simple commands. Thankfully, she kept her mouth shut. As Koios continued to talk about bugger all to his captive demigods, he began to formulate a plan:

Step one; kill Koios, again. Ok, that was easy enough if he timed it right. Step two; take all of the demigod's supplies, pft that was simple. Step three; go to sleep. Yep, a flaw proof plan.

He drew his daggers from their sheaths, they gave out a silent squeak as they collided with the rocky ceiling; he was a bit higher than he would usually perch, he would have to work on that. With a grin wickeder than a hundred knives he dropped down onto the titan's shoulder. Thank fully, the titan's enormous size made it hard to notice him as the Koios continued to talk about murder to the demigods.

Honestly, was the titan capable of anything but talking? They weren't running a chat show down in Tartarus; they had jobs to do and quotas to fill. Although, he supposed that he had a much harder time navigating the terrains than Koios, but still, it was unprofessional. And hilarious, one of the demigods was yawning as Koios spoke which probably hit the titan's pride pretty hard, ha.

"Oi – What are you-" Koios snapped as he stabbed one dagger into the Koios' jugular and then swung around, using the titan's neck as a surface to run across. Under his hands he could feel the slow rip of cells being torn apart, it was immensely satisfying.

After he had managed to slice the entirely of Koios' throat the titan began to disintegrate into golden dust, it was almost sad that the only time anyone saw light was when something or someone died. He used the rest of the titan's body to climb to the ground; he ran down his arm to his palms and then leapt to his thigh. He ran to Koios' knee and, with the elegance of a gymnast, flipped to the ground.

"You just-"

"How did you?"

"Who-"

Urg, he had hoped that the demigods would leave but from the stubborn looks on their too clean faces they weren't going anywhere.

* * *

 **NICO**

The boy in front of them cut them a look that would turn milk to butter in a heartbeat. Nico wished that he wasn't afraid, but a small part of him was currently wetting itself with fear. The worst part: Nico had no idea _why_.

The boy looked to be about fifteen or maybe sixteen that was as much as Nico could distinguish about the boy from a glance. The boy was wearing dark trousers and a dark jacket-type-situation. He wasn't sure what the outfit was made out of because it looked like normal cotton but he could see that there were slight irregularities in the fabric around the boy's elbows that wasn't normal; it looked almost like skin…

A hood obscured his head from view and a piece of fabric was pulled from his chin to rest on his nose, keeping all his features safe from sight. Apart from one, there was one thing that couldn't be hidden and Nico thought that they were, perhaps, the most beautiful thing Nico had seen in a very, very long time. Stunning green and blue eyes that practically shinned in the darkness stared at Nico and Nico's own dark eyes looked back.

The colour was strangely familiar, much like the ocean but he didn't mark that down as an important piece of information. Why? He wasn't really sure, all he knew was that he had never seen eyes quite as gorgeous as those and it both startled and amazed him.

"Thalia, are you ok?" Jason called, he darted out from the back of the group surrounding the stranger to sprint over to his injured sister. He pulled the girl into his lap from where she lay on the ground in a broken heap.

"Yeah, I'm ok," Thalia stuttered sounding anything but 'ok', not that Nico could really blamed her considering the trauma that girl had just been though.

"You could've died!" Jason exclaimed glaring over his shoulder at their savour as if he was the one who held Thalia hostage. Nico wasn't convince that threatening the seemingly capable fighter was a good idea, but he always seemed to choice the worst people in the world to trust to, in summary, Jason was either a mad man or a good man. Tough call.

Said stranger was watching Jason cautiously with his head cocked slightly to the side. Now that Nico was looking at him again he could see that the boy was a bit too skinny and very short for his presumed age. Well ok, not that short but around average. It was just unfortunate that their group seemed mostly inhabited by lofty beings, especially Jason and Frank.

"Who are you?" Piper asked her voice tinted with awe, so Nico wasn't the only one then. Their saviour blinked at Piper slowly his eyes bright with amusement, kind of like: _aww how cute that this girl thinks that she can ask me questions_ , the look was a bit off putting.

"What do you want?" Hazel added, stepping up to stand pretty much shoulder to shoulder with Piper. Both girls had kind expressions on their faces but the stranger's eyes flashed as if they had threatened him.

"Thank you," Thalia breathed from her place behind next to Jason. Her arm was draped over the latter's shoulders and Jason had a supporting arm around her waist, Nico felt an enormous wave of guilt for not caring about the girls condition. He was just preoccupied, he told himself even if the excuse tasted like out of date milk in his mouth.

"You need to leave here," the stranger instructed, nodding as he spoke at Thalia. Nico frowned in confusion, where was 'here' exactly.

"Of course, now if you could direct us to…" Annabeth agreed but she was cut off before she got the chance to finish her sentence.

"I am not a guide, you got yourselves here. I am assuming that you can get yourselves out. Well, maybe a couple of you will get out; the rest of you will suffer for eternity. Welcome to Tartarus, now get out," the stranger threw one hand in the air and then brought it down across his chest and mock bowed. Annabeth grumbled insults under her breath.

"How do we get out?" Piper questioned with a voice of innocence and the face of an angel. Nico wasn't sure that angels were welcome in the land of the damned.

"Are you deaf? I just told you I don't give a flying Cyclops' arse what you do so long as you get out, now!" the boy shouted unfazed as Frank aimed an arrow at his forehead.

"Tell us who you are and why you are here?" Frank demanded in a voice foreign to what Nico usually heard the boy's lips; Frank was so calm that it was almost comical when he got mad. In a second, maybe less, Frank was pinned to the ground and the stranger was aiming that same bow and arrow at the son of Mars' head.

"Wow, that was really impressive, you know that? I mean you had the balls to threaten me then handed your weapon to your enemy, really, what a good little soldier you are," the stranger purred. Nico thought calling Frank 'little' was a bit of a strange insult considering the stranger was, at the most, half Frank's size.

"Let him go!" Hazel snapped taking a menacing step forward whilst the stranger lazily raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm, you know what? I'll think about it…and I'm done. Give me one good reason why I should let you go and I will," the boy nodded, satisfied with his decision and then waited patiently for Frank to answer.

"Because we are on the same side," Jason pleaded his gaze flittering from the boy to frank and then to the gleaming arrow with worry.

"Wow, what gave you that impression?" the boy drawled levelling Jason with an unimpressed look. "Try again," the boy demanded sounding a lot less patient that he had the first time.

"We have some food and water, we could make a trade," Annabeth suggested, resigned to the fact they could fight their way out of this one.

"I'm listening," the boy muttered withdrawing the arrow but he presses a foot to Frank's chest to keep the boy down. Now, Nico was certain the Frank could easily knock the boy off himself but Nico feared what the boy would do. Then again, there were eight of them and one of him, surely even the slayer of Koios wouldn't be able to beat those odds.

"We have dry biscuits and flasks of water, that's all I'm sorry to say," Annabeth shrugged. The boy nodded at her holding out a hand, which was covered with a strange leather glove, complete with brass knuckles that Nico had no intention of getting better acquainted with, ever.

As soon as Annabeth had their bag of supplies over the stranger's waiting palm a scream echoed from the distance. It was full of sorrow and grief, so much so that it caused a background of unsettling memories to arise in his head.

"Crap, ok you need to go now," the boy swore ignoring the bag completely as he got off Frank's chest and hauled the boy to his feet with ease.

"We haven't got anywhere to go," Nico pointed out, he tried not to fidget as those lovely eyes met his once again. They boy let out an exhausted sigh, the fabric over his mouth fluttered slightly in the manmade breeze.

"Ok, fine, I can take you somewhere…" he seemed to struggle for the right word, nico didn't even want to know why 'safe' wasn't a sufficient word, "secure, but you owe me," he warned before taking off in a random directions. It looked like every other tunnel but the boy seemed to be confident in his decision so Nico and the others followed. They were all a bit sceptical of their new acquaintance yet they followed his lead, nonetheless.

Into the darkness and shadow they wondered, following the one man that could help them to the light. They had no idea who he was and what he was capable of. But they would find out in time, oh yes, they would find out what the voices did to a person after they were left with the monsters for too long.

* * *

 **A.N: There you have it, chapter two of Raider of Tartarus. Thank you for reading!**

 **Ok, I just want to say that even though the mystery character was being a bit of a jerk in this chapter he won't always be that way. He, unlike Zeus. has bad _and_ good days, it's just that the former is far more prominent than the latter. **

**See you all next time!**


	3. Chapter 3- meet Raider

**Here's the next chapter, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who's reviewed, fav'd and followed.**

 **Nico**

We followed him and picked up our weapons on the way. Jason supported Thalia as she walked, her ribs must have been hurt by the Titan.

We followed him down about twenty different tunnel until he approached a crack in the wall. Just about big enough for us all the fit through but no monsters would be able to. Thank gods.

It lead to a cave about the size of a hotel room. The crack we entered through seemed to be the only way in. Torches were attached to the walls and the floor was covered in old blankets. It was the best place I'd seen in days.

The man gestured for Thalia us to sit down as he walked over to a bag filled with what looked like herbs but Im not sure.

After a few minutes he got up and walked over to Thalia, he handed a vial of white liquid, at her confused look he said.

"It should help with the pain" normally Thalia would have questioned if it was safe but she simply nodding in thanks and downed the whole thing.

"should we have like…checked to see if it was poised?" Hazel questioned but Thalia simply stared at the man who was back on the other side of the room looking through bags.

"I trust him" everyone stared at her with various looks of disbelief. Thalia was not known for her ability to trust.

We chatted quietly for a while, grateful for the safety the cave provided. The man walked over again and placed a plate of bread at our feet.

"It's not much" he began "but you all look like death and probably could do with some food" in that moment I decided I liked this guy, he was helping us even though he had no idea who we are or why were here.

We all dug into the food, it tasted better than anything we'd eaten in days, we only had dry biscuit and ambrosia ( which we'd decided to save for later )

"Who are you" heasked again once we'd finished, to my surprise Annabeth answered.

"I'm Annabeth" she began " this is Thalia,Nico, Jason, Leo, Frank, Hazel and piper" she pointed to us as she introduced us, he smiled at us kindly.

"Athena, Zeus, Hades, Jupiter, Hephaestus, Mars, Pluto and Aphrodite" we only stared at him. How did he know that!

"How…what..huh" Frank stuttered out, at the man laughed, the sound was strange like he hadn't done it in a while…he probably hadn't.

"I watched you fight, in that moment I could tell." No one understood what he meant but we all got the feeling that was the best answer we were going to get.

"Why didn't you help then?" Annabeth questioned, no hostility in her tone, only curiosity.

"I stopped you all getting murdered isn't that good enough?" He sounded regretful, but also annoyed.

"Fair enough" she answered." So are you going to tell us who you are?" Good question Annabeth.

"I'm the raider of Tartarus " um what? "You can call me Raider" he pulled his hood down. He had black hair that seemed to spring out in all directions and sea green eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light. All the girls looked flustered, I wonder why?

"What are you doing here?" Raider asked tilting his head in curiously.

"We're here to close the doors of death" piper answered looking worried. Raider's gaze fell to a map on the wall, he looked at us his eyes sparkling in amusement.

"You do know that the door of death are on the other side of Tartarus right?" I'm guessing we looked ridiculous because he burst out laughing before going to get his map.

He laid it at our feet. The map was massive and covered in lines that I suppose represented tunnels and large blobs that represented caves.

"Here" he pointed to a blue dot "is wear you are" he then moved his hand to the complete opposite end of the map "and here are the doors of death" we all groaned as he chuckled.

"Why are you here" Hazel asked suddenly, the questioned seemed to take Raider off guard.

"I don't know"

"How long have you been here" she continued.

"What year is it?" Um is he just trying to avoid the question.

"2016. Why" he laughed a lifeless laugh that made me shiver.

"Then 10 years." We stared at him, personally I was silently hoping he would laugh and say he only just got here. But he just stared back.

"Oh my gods" I muttered and the other muttered things of the same degree.

"So the doors of death" he prompted, he was obviously trying to change the subject and we were happy to oblige.

"We're on a quest" Jason began as Raider sat down crossed legged, he placed his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands, he looked like a six years old about to hear a bedtime story.

"We got sent by the gods to close to door of death, and them they'd rescue us" he summarised as Raider frowned. He muttered to himself before shrugging.

"You'd better get going" his voice was now hard, and emotionless.

He got up and moved to the entrance and gestured for us to leave, pulling his hood back up in the process.

"What?" Thalia sounded confused and disbelief laced her tone.

"You've got a long journey ahead of you and better get going" he replied, once again gesturing for us to leave.

"Can you lead us there" piper asked using charm speak one again. Raider's eyes turned stormy.

"This is your mission not mine, now go" he sounded calm but anger was still obvious in his tone.

"You won't get far on your own" piper continued using slightly more charm speak.

Percy chuckled darkly.

"You don't know how far I've come" he shrugged again before walking walking out. He all just stared. Suddenly Leo's tool belt glowed and he pulled a mobile phone out of it. He looked absolutely hands down baffled.

He presses answer and put it on speaker.

"Leo?" It was Chiron! We all grinned at each other before replying.

"Hi!" Leo yelled, relief evident in his tone.

 **So three you go. Hope everyone enjoyed it!**

 **next chapter won't be out for a few days because I'm away but I'll try my best.**

 **Thank you for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Hissy Fit

**ok hi to everyone! I want to say that your all amazing! Thank you for all the support it really helps.**

 **someone said something about the fact Nico would be dead if he didn't go to the Locus casino and in a way your right but Nico is slightly different in my story and his past is different...all will be explained later!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Leo

Now excuse me for being dense but I'm confused. Some dud has been living down here for 10 years? How is that even possible?

Am I the only one who noticed that he knew the doors of death were open and he knew where they were….but he didn't escape. Why?

And now a centaur is phoning me on a small mobile that came out of my tool belt. What is life?

cough cough

the others are glaring at me, what did I do know? Oh I zoned out again, damn ADHD. I flashed my killer grin and they all groaned.

Sometimes I feel like I annoy them but then I remember that I am 'hot as hell' and that feeling goes away. They love me and I know it….I just don't think they know.

"What's going on?" The phone vibrated as he spoke, it felt weird. Annabeth took the phone from my hand, sending a glare my way. Nice to know I'm appreciated.

"Chiron why are you calling us?" She asked, a muffled reply came from the phone.

"You can't iris message in Tartarus and the gods need to ask you something" of course the gods need something, don't they always?

"What?" Jason visibly winced at the tone of his own voice

"How's it going?" I couldn't help it I laughed, a lot. The others joined in. Chiron was saying something on the other end but in perfect honesty I didn't know or care about what he had to say.

"It the best vacation ever" Thalia said through her laughter "the beaches are lovely, I'm so glad you suggested we come here" that just made us all laugh harder. Maybe it was the exhaustion…or maybe Raider filled the bread with some kind of drug.

"The locals are delightful." Frank continued, before looking sheepish. Chiron made even more protests but who cares?

"SILENCE" ok that was not Chiron. It was Zeus, King of the gods…who had possibly heard us laughing and our comments.. I've never heard so many people gulp before.

"Where are you?" There was no concern in his tone, to be fair there was no emotion full stop but seriously eight very important people are in Tartarus and Zeus isn't even a tad concerned. What a lovely person.

"In a den on the east of Tartarus." Jason responded, embarrassment lacing his tone. It made me want to laugh again.

"In the east?" Athena questioned. We must be on speaker.

"We know, we know" Annabeth snapped. Her pride was getting to her again, I only hope Zeus' lightning can't reach us down here. " the doors of death are in the south"

I turned back to Raiders map that was still lying on the floor. We're the Gods aware that someone had been down here for 10 was obviously aware of Gods,were the gods aware of him?

"Athena" I turned to Thalia who was also staring at the map. She must have been thinking the same thing. "Do you know a guy has been down here for 10 years."

Silence…silence….silence.

Is the connection broken? No I can hear rustling on the other end.

"Yes" It was Hestia that replied her voice heavy with grief that isn't usually heard in a God. They knew… And did nothing? For the sake of all things good and dear…they knew!

"What! You knew" Nico snarled, gripping his sword. His eyes had turned impossibly darker, so that they made Tartarus seem sunny. I can't say I felt much better about it myself.

"We aware of this but…." Zeus began and Nico exploded.

"No! Zeus don't make excuses you knew that someone was down here and did nothing!" He screamed, I agreed with him and was silently cheering him on.

"Are you crazy?" I whipped my head around, there stood the man in question a metal bow in hand and and arrow aimed at Nico. He eyes were wide in panic and fear. Fear of us or for us?

"Yes" Zeus responded, obviously thinking it was one of us who stopped Nico's rant not Raider.

Raider rolled his eyes and loosened his grip on his arrow. He glare at the phone not at all surprise that the King of the Gods was messaging us via a phone. Had he been listening?

"You guys are a beacon for monsters as it is without, one phoning the Gods and two throwing a hissy fit. If the monster find you your all dead!" we all stared at our feet, the Gods momentarily forgotten.

For my part I was touched. He didn't say anything about us talking about him. He didn't say that he didn't want his base discovered. No he was worried about us…well I think.

I hope so…we could us his help and if he already cares about our well being then..wow.

"Your right." Nico began his voice cracking slightly."it's just..they knew" he stuttered, looking up at Raider. " they left you alone…they leave to many people alone and its not fair" I could tell he was speaking more about himself than Raider. Raider seemed to notice as well because his gaze softened.

He flicked his risk and his bow clicked before folding up into a metal cylinder. If this was in another place at another time in certain I would have started fan-girling over the weapon but alas! Now is not the time.

What Nico did next changed my opinion on life greatly.

 **Hope people like it! I'm not sure what to think about it but...hey ho. More action next chapter I promise!**

 **What powers should Raider have? If any. Please tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Hell hound hunt

**Hello everyone.**

 **a massive thank you to everyone who's fav'd, followed and reviewsed this story I really appreciate it.**

 **look my head is killing me so sorry in advance for my bad writing.**

Nico POV

I don't know how it happened but I went from a furious demigod to a weeping little kid. It was weird, almost like someone was pulling the words out of my mouth. I wasn't in control and more.

I knelt on the floor my arms wrapped around my waist, a final barrier against the grief that threatened to consume me.

Tears were flowing like rivers from my eyes, I blinked trying desperately to clear my vision. But I couldn't see anything. I can hear the god of theatres whiny voice next to me but I don't care about him.

Memories plagued my mind. A flash of Bianca's smile, the flashing of ambulance sirens. Nothing made sense. I screamed and thrashed desperately trying to get away from what was holding me down. This is wrong. So wrong.

Raider POV

The kid continued to fight me as I tried desperately to give him a sleeping drought. His eyes were open but fuzzy and unfocused. He gave one final scream of pure fear before collapsing into his friends behind him.

The blond one , Annabeth I think, started ordering the others around. They all listened to her without so much of a groan. I chuckled silently, they looked ridiculous! Pacing around the room, running to grab supplies from their backpacks.

While they were busy being idiots I left the cave, I didn't want to deal with them again. They're nice kids but I'm not used to being around anyone even remotely like me!

They'll all die, my mind kept whispering to me. I glared at the path a head. I didn't care if they died. Good riddance, I told myself but I knew it was a lie.

A small growl bounced of the wall on my right. It was enough to have me on high alert. I crouched down low pulling my hood up over my face. Hell hound.

It made its first appearance at the end of the tunnel. It looked alone, but I wasn't so sure. I looked up at the ceiling. It wasn't that high but I could still use its height as an advantage.

I shuffled towards it, making no noise. I turned to it and placed my hand in one of the many cracks. Hoisting myself up I scaled the wall in seconds.

I shuffled down until I was above the hell hound. Just like I suspected there was about five of them crouched by the rocks on the left side of it and possibly the same amount on the right.

I shifted so one of my hands was gripping the wall and the other hung by my side. I reached my arm out towards the hell hound in the centre. The leader.

I felt a familiar tug in my head as my powers woke up. Blue formed on the tips of my fingers. I moved my fingers slightly, watched as the blue danced along them before it moved towards the dog.

It's eyes turned blue as I got into its head. It suddenly growled at its other pack members. Before it attacked them.

The leader was by far the best fighter in the pack. It managed to kill seven of them before they even had time to attack.

The fight was won by the leader who was still panting and glaring, looking for its next pray. I released my grip on the wall, falling onto the dog before using one of my swords to stab at its neck.

It disappeared in a golden dust.

"What was that?" Urg it's that annoying group of Demigods again!

"A cute puppy" I replied not turning to them. Instead I looked exactly at my hands. The blue still danced on my palms. Damn I hope they don't anger me or else…

"The blue !" I think Annabeth demanded. I whipped my head around to her, slightly irritated.

"None of your business!" I growled, Nico was with them looking even paler that usual. I shot him a grin, he smiled back. I liked him. He was a son of the underworld, maybe he understood being alone as well.

"It is my business!" She snapped back. I don't like her. She's too demanding. To much like her mother, wasn't she a delightful woman.

"Ok sure later s***lords!" I mock solute before turning my back to them and walking off.

"How dare you…" She began. I simply ran to the edge of the tunnel. There was a large drop..how fun.

I heard their loud elephant footsteps behind me and groaned. Can't they leave me alone? I oked at them again. Annabeth had that satisfies smirk on her face they made me want to impale her there and then.

I bowed at her and said. "Hope you enjoy hell!" Before leaning back. Falling off the cliff. They gasped in surprise and I smirked.

 **Ok short shitty update but hey ho.**

 **I'm tired and not felling great so I'm really sorry about all the mistakes in this one.**

 **A look at Raiders powers, it should be explored more next chapter. Until then if anyone has any ideas for powers**

 **please review!**


	6. Chapter 6- Don't cry Nico!

**I'm back again!**

 **Disclaimer:I own nothing**

 **Raider if Tartarus.**

Normal POV

Annabeth was still sulking at Raider's attitude and Leo was laughing at her expression. She looked immensely ticked off and was glaring at the drop as if she was trying to 'use the force' to bring Raider back up.

In the end they all turned away to keep moving, in dead silence. Nico was still pretty shaken up from his emotional relapse earlier.

He muttered curses under his breath. Jason, who was walking next to him, raised his eyebrow at Nico but said nothing.

They continued walking in an awkward silence until Annabeth decided to cause a scene.

"That stupid….idiotic…" She continued throwing insults around, her voice slowly getting louder and louder until she was all but screaming.

The others shared equally worried looks, none of them wanted to attempt to stop her rant but they could sense trouble. And a lot of it.

"Annabeth" Thalia began but was cut of by an loud growl. Not a hell hound something much bigger. Annabeth stopped her rant. Her gaze dancing around the room with that calm calculating expression that made everyone self conscious.

The others drew their weapons, moving into a circle so they could cover all angles. They all shifted their weight from right to left over and over again as the anxiously waited.

In the blink of an eye the walls exploded and an army of monsters burst through. About half the size of the army that attacked during the Battle of the Labyrinth.

With no powers, no gods and only a small amount of room for them to fight in, it wasn't easy in fact they all found themselves completely drained much sooner than they would have liked.

When all seemed lost ribbons of blue sand/dust entered the battle. Dancing along the floor, tickling the feet of the monsters. Before moving up towards their heads. The eight simply stared completely awed by what was before them.

The monsters previously red, blood thirsty eyes turned sea blue and they became as lifeless as statues. Raider walked in his hands pointed towards the floor. He moved his fingers as the blue moved around. He caught their gaze and frowned, his eyes wide with effort.

"Go!" He said, his voice breaking as he tried to keep the monsters at bay. "I can't hold them for long" as if to prove his point a couple of the beasts began moving slightly.

"Let's get out of here" Annabeth agreed shoving all of them further down the tunnel. Raider felt a stab in his chest at their quick retreat but he couldn't figure out why.

He turned to see how far they had gotten, all but one of them were gone. Nico stood shaking his head before picking up his sword and moving to stand by Raider.

"Us rogues have to stick together" he explained shooting Raider a determined look. Raider felt his chest warm at the boys words. He felt light headed, but he didn't know if it was from his words or his use of power.

His hold was weakening until he was only slowing them down. Nico but his hand on Raiders arm and looked at him reassuringly. Neither spoke but an entire conversation passed through the two of them.

Raider relaxed his hands and the monsters charged. A cyclops tried to crush Raider with a mace but he spun out of the way reaching into his quiver pulling out his two emergency daggers.

He turned back to the cyclops stabbing a dagger into its shoulder using it to hoist himself onto the things back. He jammed the other into its back using it to steer the thing into the wall. The ceiling crumbled slightly.

Nico was fighting of a cyclops as well but wasn't having as much luck. It had him backed into a corner when Raider jumped on the things back and finished it off.

"This place is falling apart!" Nico yelled over the chaos, he was right cracks were opening in the floor and slowly edging their way up to the ceiling.

Raider nodded and started fighting his way through to the exit, slicing through anything that got to close. Nico followed behind him, the two of them were almost there when the ceiling crumbled.

Nico POV

The ceiling fell down on top of us dust burned my eyes forcing me to close them I heard Raider yell for me to run, his voice sounding pained.

I moved towards his voice coughing and face planting almost every time I took a step. I saw a light flash in front of me despite my closed eyes. The dust settled enough I could see, Raider was sitting his leg pinned under a piece of rock and a flare in his hand. He looked mildly relieved when he saw me.

I ran towards him skidding to my knees ignoring the pain. His entire left leg from his knee down was under the rock and blood was seeping through his trousers.

I felt hopelessness enter me and my posture slumped. My eyes stung – from the dust of course I wasn't going to cry….

He put his hand on my shoulder, his hand was warm. He placed something in my hand. I didn't look, I was to busy remembering how to breath.

"Go" he whispered shoving me lightly. I shook my head, no way was I going to leave him here.

"Please" he begged and he wrapped his arms around me and I melted into the embrace hugging him back. I don't know how I felt so comfortable around him but I did, like we had been friends for years not a few minutes. Because that was what he was…my friend.

"How often does a guy like me get the chance to be the hero?" He asked but I knew he didn't want an answer. I couldn't help it I broke down, wet tears streamed down my face.

He shoved me once again and I felt myself stand up without permission. I found myself walking away. I didn't want to!

Raider was making me! That selfless….. Before I could begin to rant the rest of the ceiling fell. I screamed his name but got no answer.

 **Omg…. Poor Nico:(**

 **Fear not this isn't the end. And also I don't think I'm going to have any romance in this Nico and Raider are just friends! Cause I'm terrible at romance.**

 **Also Raider's powers are like Scarlett Witch but blue just cause..I love her powers and thought it would be awesome If Raider had them.**

 **Tell me what you think and is you have any cool ideas for this story you can put it in a review or PM me I don't mind!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Friends or Enemies

**I wasn't going to update today but hey life doesn't go as you planned.**

 **shout outs!**

 **A sea of hope:thank you!:)**

 **Greekgodsrox: thank you, I'll try.=)**

 **RangerHorseTug: pretty much yeh. Haha funny mental images come to me when I think about it!:)**

 **Booklover72: thank you so much! Yeah I do love suspense. :)**

 **I own nothing.**

 **Raider of Tartarus**

Nico pounded his fists against the rubble once again. His hands were covered in blood and were most probably broken but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He had lost enough people in his short life he couldn't loose anyone else!

"Nico" a concerned voice put a stop to his continuous banging. He turned slightly to see his 'friends' standing there. He felt blood rush into his ears at their sympathetic expressions. They looked at him like he had just gotten his favourite toy taken away and he hated it!

"What do you want" he snapped, his voice as hard as steel. They flinched at his tone and looked down.

"We need to get going" Annabeth answered her voice wavering slightly making Nico snort.

"Sure" he agreed his voice laced with sarcasm, the other blinked at him " should we go this way?"he asked pointing down the tunnel to his left "or this way?" He pointed to the one on his right "or maybe this way?" He sobbed pointing to the dreaded tunnel, that Raider... You know.

Annabeth looked like she was going to say something but the others glared at her, they said nothing because their was nothing to say. Hazel took a step forward towards Nico, placing her hand on his shaking shoulder. He knew she was just trying to help but he felt angry at Raider and because he wasn't here, they would have to do.

He shrugged her hand of and her face contorted with pain. He felt guilt bubble up inside him but he didn't apologise. _They_ had left him and Raider to fend off a small army of monsters without even batting an eyelid. _They_ left the two of them to die!

"Look you can through a hissy fit if you want but it won't do anything, Raiders dead. That's just it" Annabeth snapped, moving so she was at the front of the group and opened her big mouth. Nico jumped at her, ready to claw her pretty little face to shreds.

He only managed to claw her once but it was worth it. She screamed slightly her hand instantly coming up to cover her wound. The others jumped between the two of them. Protecting them from each other, or just protecting Annabeth?

Nico felt a shiver of hurt break through his walls but quickly shoved it out again. Of course they were only protecting Annabeth, he was just their as an offering that they could give the Titans if they were captured. He wasn't wanted he never was and never will be.

Dark thoughts clouded his mind as he stood unblinking in the cave, the shadows grew around him like a blanket trying to comfort him. But he didn't notice his gaze was fixed on the four claw marks that covered Annabeths the one in the centre was bleeding profoundly and was deep enough that it would probably leave a scar, not forever but quite a while.

He turned to face his 'friends' they all looked at him with blanc expressions, something he was used to seeing at Camp Half Blood. Their hands were carefully placed on their weapons and Nico's vision turned red with anger.

"What are you going to do?" He asked eying their weapons with caution. "Kill me" he let out a lifeless laugh that echoed down the tunnels in small tremors. He threw his arms out to the side, leaving him open to attack. If they want to kill him then he wouldn't stop them.

"Come on I dare you" he snarled when they didn't move, they did nothing even show they had heard him speak. "Come on" he coaxed guesturing to his body with his hands but still kept his arms outstretched.

Annabeth whimpered pathetically from behind her friends' barrier. Nico rolled his eyes at her. He felt ages surge through him like a bullet when the others turned around to comfort her.

"If you don't kill me I might just do it myself." He stated blankly, they just glared at him. Well it was a halfhearted glare but Nico got the message.

"Hey Annabeth" he shouldn't have said anything, his 'friends' moved closer to her as if they were shielding her from death itself "how Luke?" He didn't know why he asked, mostly out of curiosity. What would she do?

She pushed through her small army and approached him, looking at him like he was a fault in one of her perfect architectural marvels. She then slapped him around the head violently. Nico instantly whipped his head back to face her, his eyes burning with fury.

"Shut up, you are acting like a child!" She screamed shaking her hand.

He felt his anger boil yet again as he showed her harshly. She fell back into her friends who instantly stabled her. Funny tha

t they help her instantly but left him to fall for years.

"You are the one who just left me to die!" He screamed the tunnel shuddered slightly, Raider would be annoyed. The thought made his heart ache slightly. "You left the person that saved us and he died for us and you don't even care!" He needed to hit something, Annabeth would be a good target but she was too far away at that moment.

Thalia moved to stand beside Nico, her eyes were full of pain that made her look like a young girl running away from home all over again. She faced the rubble, cracking her knuckles she got down to her knees and began moving on of the smaller boulders. Nico simply stared at her before joining.

the boulders were heavy and hurt his already destroyed hands but every time he lifted one the weight in his chest lessened. He didn't look back at his 'friends', he didn't care about them. He cared about getting Raider.

 **Ta da...I think**

 **hope you like it thank you for reading!**

 **see you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8 - the dig

**Another chapter finally! It hasn't been that long has it? Na**

 **Shout out:**

 **DoodleQueen101: thank you!**

 **Greekgodsrox: yeah he definitely deserves it in my opinion! Thank you.**

 **Aviendhaphiragon: I know right! Ha ha !thanks**

 **Kayla: now! Thank you!**

 **raxacoricania: I think it would be but I'm hopeless at romance! I'm sorry! Thank you.**

 **Slytherin of the sea: haha thank you.**

 **RagerHorseTug: Luke will be explained in a few chapters. Thank you**

 **HeroesOfOlympusJustin: again I'm really sorry but I'm hopeless at romance but in later chapters I guess it could be classed as romance of you squint I'm not sure! Again sorry. Thank you.**

 **Thalia**

Cuts littered her hands, little marks that seemed so meaningless, so useless yet they managed to make her wince at every move. So small yet so significant

She risked a side way glance at her cousin, he moved the rocks with such ferocity it was like they were the things that separated him from happiness himself, not just a stranger.

To be fair she felt the same way… There is something about Raider that was just so familiar. It startled her to her very core. She had never felt anything like it before.

She shook her head and resumed her digging. She suddenly became aware that her friends were just watching. It made a knife of white hot anger serge through her, she paused her movement and stood. It one fluid movement she swivelled on her heel and folded her arms over her chest.

"Well?!" She demanded, not sure exactly what she expected for an answer. Turns out it didn't matter anyway because Jason came over and joined the dig, being the prideful person he is he immediately went for the largest of the pile, grunting in effort. Leo joined him and together the two of them moved it.

Thalia turned back to her friends, they others stood firm. She sighed in irritation and moved back to her team. Team because that was what they were moving together in hope of reaching the same goal. She smiled until she realised that in that moment she and Annabeth were on separate teams.

The thought sent a whirlwind of emotion through her: fear,betrayal, confusion and others. But she couldn't do anything, she wouldn't back down from a challenge and being a daughter of Zeus she never ever surrenders!

She dug and dug and dug, her hands burned and sweat rained down from her brow, she hated it!

 **Nico**

He could tell the others were getting annoyed and to be honest he was to. Every time we managed to shift a rock another hundred seemed to take its place. It's so annoying!

Not to mention that he was getting more and more nervous. Raider was hurt and bleeding before the ceiling collapsed, it had been about half an hour since he last saw the boy and he was getting more and more worried.

What would they even find on the the other side. Nothing? It seemed a better alternative than….no he wouldn't think like that, the kid had survived through Tartarus for 10 years surely he could survive this?

He was pulled out of his musings by the sound of a man screaming, it came from behind the wall. It sent a wave of terror up Nico's spine, he found himself moving rocks with such speed the others had to back away.

'No no no no no…' He muttered over and over again, his heart in his throat pounding so hard it hurt to breath. His arms burned with adrenaline. A groan escaped his lips from heaving a particularly heavy rock , but it came out more of a wrangled sob that made him suddenly realise how much of a wreck he was.

His entire body was shaking like a leaf, his hands were a mixture of red and brown, contrasting deeply with his usual pale skin. His cheeks were wet with tears and sweat.

He was broken.

He screamed in frustration and hauled yet another rock out of the way. He looked down at the ground his eyes burning. He breathed deeply as he tried to even his breathing.

"Nico" a voice whispered, Thalia, was staring in front of her in a dazed state. He followed her line of site, there was a small gap in the wall of stone perhaps big enough for him to fit through.

He moved towards it, his legs felt like lead but he pushed forward nonetheless. He squeezed through the gap, ever thankful that he was just small enough. Gods getting stuck would have been mortifying!

He looked out into the room, he knew deep down that he should have let the others through, or told them that it was safe but he was more concerned with the figure on the floor.

He moved towards it with his knees trembling and his fingers twitching. He knelt down, narrowing his eyes as they slowly adjusted to the dark cave, the darkness most likely caused by the dust.

Raider.

Nico laughed with joy, it once again came out more of a sob but Nico didn't care at all. He placed to fingers on the boys neck and felt the reassuring pounding beneath his fingers, slow and uneven but it was there at that was enough for him.

Raider seemed to be completely out of it and that wasn't a good sign. His leg was still pinned beneath the rock, how he wasn't crushed after the amount of wreckage that poured down from the ceiling was a mystery.

He scanned his friends leg, it looked bad. His trouser was soaked with blood making Nico vomit in his mouth. He swallowed it back down again, recoiling slightly at the bitter taste.

"Shit" Nico didn't move his gaze from Raider only nodded at his cousins remark. Thalia melt down on Raiders left side, opposite Nico, he hands hovered over his body. Nico saw her swallow a lump in her throat when she caught sight of his leg.

Her brows suddenly pulled together as she scammed his body. Nico shot her a questioning look which she ignored.

She pulled his arm onto her lap. Her hand grasping his, be it for her comfort or Raiders, Nico wasn't sure. She ran his hand along his arm, lingering slightly on his scars. Thoughts on how he got them made Nico feel lightheaded.

Nico moved from his position to a crouch behind Thalia when the girl began muttering incoherent words. He looked over her shoulder to see a black tattoo marked on the boys skin.

It was one word.

Percy.

 **Another short meaningless chapter but hey its something right?**

 **Next chapter: Raiders past. Dun dun duuuunnnn**

 **if anyone has any suggestions please tell me!**

 **till next time, chal.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Percy

**Hi I'm back!**

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 **Greekgodsrox: yeah this would be good, the whole of Percy past will be explained ladaister on so I'll use this or something similar. Thank you.**

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 **disclaimer: I own nothing**

Nico ran the word through his head once again, it must be important to Raider if he had it permanently etched into his skin. But Nico couldn't figure out what it meant.

Not that it really matter in that moment, Thalia started barking orders, Nico followed them the best he could to follow but he was drained from his 'exercise' previously.

He had to rip of one of Raiders many layers of clothes to stop the bleeding on his leg, he hoped he wouldn't mind.

His leg didn't seem to be that bad, but with very little light in the dark cave it was hard to tell, Thalia didn't seem to let go of Raiders hand the whole time-when Nico asked her she said she was keeping track of his pulse but Nico wasn't convinced.

He was wrapping another layer of fabric around Raiders leg when the boy shifted, at first Nico thought it was his mind playing tricks on him but when Thalia began staring at him more intently than before, he couldn't help but feel a wave of happiness surge through him.

He moved up to Raiders head, laying his palm on his forehead. He could have been imagining but he thought he could feel Raider lean in his hand. Raiders eyes fluttered under his eye lids and he groaned.

"Raider?" Nico asked, he didn't expect Raider to do anything he just wanted the kid to know he was there. Thalia moved around to Raider's back, she clumsily hoisted him up so he was sitting. Raider moved his hands in an attempt to stabilise himself. Not that he needed to, Thalia moved so she had an arm wrapped around his bony shoulder, supporting him.

"Nico" he slurred, opening his sea green eyes and narrowing them at the son of Hades. Nico nodded, unable to speak as his throat had closed up. "You came back" he said, disbelief lacing his tone.

Unable to control himself any longer, Nico wrapped his arms around his friend.

"Of course I did" he whispered, he felt giddy when two arms hesitantly wrapped around him. Raider seemed immensely uncomfortable but Nico didn't really care. They both pulled apart after a few seconds, there was more important things to deal with.

"Raider" Thalia said moving her hand back to his arm. Raider seemed to only just notice her presence and sent her a grateful smile "what's this?" Raiders brows knitted together in confusion, but he adopted a look of understanding when she pointed to his tattoo.

He pulled his arm onto his lap, running his fingers over the word gently. His eyes misted over slightly and a sad smile adorned his features. He tried to speak but his voice seemed to fail him.

"I…..don't remember a lot" he began, not looking at either of them as they both sat down next to him.

"Tartarus does that to you, it turns you into…" He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling as he hesitated "a monster" Thalia opened her mouth but Nico shot her a glare and she shut up.

" After years of being down here it was the only thing I could really remember" he swallowed a lump in his throat and Nico fought the urge to hug him again. "Percy" the word seemed to make his entire body relax, he leaned back a bit.

"That was my name" he whispered sadly. Raider…no Percy hugged his arm to his chest. Tears slowly dripping down his cheeks.

"Percy" Thalia repeated, shooting R..Percy a reassuring smile. "It suits you" she whispered moving so he could lean on her shoulder which he did.

"Percy how did you get down here?" Nico asked, immediately regretting it when Percy tensed.

"I don't know exactly. I just remember being dragged out of the house by a woman, I think it was my mother. She told me that this was about my father, and we ran. Not sure where we were running…but" his voice cracked and Nico felt himself grow irritated, but he wasn't sure why.

"There was a flash of light, a scream and then someone grabbed me. I woke up falling" he finished hyperventilating slightly. His eyes were wide and unfocused.

He just stared out into the space in front of him, his eyes full of pure terror. He opened his mouth to say something when Leo came bundling through into the tunnel. He grinned stupidly at Percy.

He walked over, looking slightly guilty.

"Hi" he said brightly, waving as if this was an everyday occurrence. Percy seemed to appreciate it though cause he smiled back. Some of the previous tension disappearing from his body.

"Hi Leo" he greeted before chuckling.

"LEO GET BACK HERE NOW," Nico wanted to slap Annabeth sometimes, Leo looked equally ticked off as he sunk to the floor.

"She's trying to convince everyone that your some evil villain" Leo explained, a smile twitched at the corned of Nico's lips at Percy's mock hurt look.

"After all we've been through together" he fake stuttered whipping imaginary tears, Thalia chuckled slightly, obviously not entirely comfortable with the idea of mocking her friend.

"Hey Percy how's your leg?" Thalia asked, Nico wanted to snap himself. How could he forget that his friend was trapped!?

Leo shot Thalia a confused look "Percy?"he repeated, one eyebrow raised.

"Raiders real name" Nico clarified.

"Well Percy, let's get your leg fixed"

 **Sorry for not updating sooner my Wifi broke, It's fine now yay!**

 **please tell me what you think, bye**


	10. Chapter 10-fire

**Hi sorry for the wait, I have been really busy!**

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 **disclaimer: I own nothing**

Leo glanced once again at the bloody mess that was Percy's leg. He swallowed back bile-it looked excruciatingly painful. The weird thing was that Percy didn't seem to be able to feel anything.

He sat, his head on Thalia's shoulder, his eyes half closed and breathed deeply. His face was tense though Leo found it hard to tell beneath all the dirt and blood that decorated his face.

Leo glanced at Nico, who was sat right next to Percy, he never understood the son of Hades. Now he was even more lost, Nico was rubbing smoothing circles on Percy's back whilst whispering to him. He'd learnt that Nico wasn't a fan of physical contact, he hated it! But there he was 'touching' someone without even caring.

Leo shrugged off his questions in favour of examining the problem at hand. They needed to move the rock but the second they did there was no doubt that Percy would start bleeding worse than he already was.

"Fire" Percy muttered instantly grabbing everyone's attention. "Fire could…stop…bleeding" Percy's posture went limp as his consciousness left him.

Leo wanted to help, he really did and he liked Percy at the moment and the kid had helped them out it was only fair they returned the favour. But he was scared. His fire was still unpredictable, he might accidentally burn Percy's leg to ash-which would not be good.

However, they were running out of options. It was likely that there was other ways to stop the bleeding but Leo was no healer. Annabeth would probably know other ways to help but she wouldn't help Percy. Manly because she didn't trust him, Leo did trust him so he was going to help.

"Guys" Jason's concerned voice echoed through the cave, Leo mentally slapped himself-he was supposed to come in, see what's going on then repost back to the others. Oh well, he was on this 'team' now anyway. "What…. Oh" Leo say Jason pale when he was Percy's leg and honestly Leo didn't blame him.

Jason knelt down next to Percy and placed his arm on Percy's leg. Leo fought the urge to throw up when Jason pulled at the wound. Jason muttered under his breath before looking at Leo.

"How can I help?" Leo grinned at him, unbelievably happy that his best friend was on their side now.

Jason

The wound looked terrible! It was already getting infected and the rock was constantly digging deeper and deeper into the tender flesh of Raiders leg.

He forced himself to look at Leo, biting back any comments he had about Leo's inability to follow Annabeth's simple request. Leo glanced around him, as if looking for a way out.

"My fire might be able to stop the bleeding, you and Nico need to lift the rock whilst Thalia" Jason heard Leo's voice crack slightly "you hold Percy down."

Jason's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Percy is Raiders real name" Nico explained a fond smile dancing on his lips before being washed away and replace with a look of fear.

"Hold him down?" He whispered, his voice somehow even darker than normal.

"It's going to hurt" Leo replied his voice full of pain. Jason positioned himself on Percy's left, his hands moving to get a good grip on the rock whilst Nico did the same on the other side. Thalia sat so she had Percy's entire upper body in her lap.

Leo set fire and counted to three.

One…

Two…

Three

Jason heaved the rock up and off Percy's leg, which immediately began bleeding rapidly. Leo placed his burning hands on the wound as Percy thrashed. Strangely he didn't scream, Jason would have to figure out how later as Percy's leg began to smoke.

Leo jumped back and Jason threw the rock as far away as he could, which annoyingly wasn't that far, Percy calmed down instantly. His breaths still shallow and uneven but at least they were there.

Nico was immediately back on the floor again grabbing Percy's limp hand in his. Thalia got the message as she carefully maneuverer Percy from her lap to his. Nico seemed a lot calmer after that.

Jason turned to Leo who was still staring at Percy's leg.

"What's taking so long!" Annabeth's voice drifted into the cave, Percy must've recognised her because he moved further into Nico's hold. Nico tightened his arms in response.

Annabeth stormed into the 'room' her eyes blazing as she scanned everything in that analytical way if hers. She caught sight of Percy, limp and scorched in Nico's arms but didn't look fazed by it.

"We need to go." She stated simply, Jason growled at her. Moving to stand between her and Percy. He glared at her before stating.

"Go then" she snarled at him stomping her foot slightly. She then huffed, her gaze once again falling in Percy.

"Just put him out of his misery" she mumbled, obviously thinking she was the only one who could hear…boy was she wrong..

Jason shot towards her, pinning her against the wall, whilst Thalia and Leo both through a variety of curses her way. He bared his teeth at her, his hands itching to punch her.

"Get out…" Nico whispered, his gaze never leaving Percy's. Jason released Annabeth, but the girl only straightened her top and crossed her arms.

"I said GET OUT" the 'room' shook slightly as he screamed, Annabeth shot out of the room faster than you could say 'Demigod'

Jason frowned at the walls, the 'room' wasn't stable and with and injured warrior they had to move. He looked at Thalia, she noticed as well because she nodded at him before walking up to Nico.

"We need to move" she told him, her voice completely calm. Nico growled pulling Percy impossibly closer.

"Jason can you carry Percy?" Nico relaxed marginally at her words, he must have thought they were going to leave Percy behind. Jason moved to Percy, his arms twitching slightly.

He decided caring him bridal style would probably be the best. So he put one hand under the boys knees and the other aroud his shoulder, he hoisted him up.

He felt a pit of dread open up in him at how light percy was. He barely weighed anything. When was the last time the kid had eaten a full meal? Jason silently vowed to bring the boy to McDonalds when they return to the surface.

He would because there was no way in hell he was leaving the boy here any longer. After all what else would a friend do?

 **Yay I'm done! It's short but whatever.**

 **hope you liked it please tell me what you think!**

 **until next time..bye!**


	11. Chapter 11- Wisdom

**Ok I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. I had surgery yesterday and suprisingly haven't been feeling up to writing. I had to go under general anaesthetic which was so weird! Anyway here you go:**

 **Lilypop: maybe again I'm still not sure about pairing but I do like Percy and Thalia... It's very tempting. Thank you.**

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 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

They needed to move the wounded warrior to a safer place, the problem was that they were in Tartarus-no where was safe. Nico had kept silent whilst the other three tried to figure out a game plan. His thoughts were not about where to take him as much as who to take him to.

Nico had a couple of allies down there. He never told the others-the last thing he needed was another reason for his friends to hate him. He didn't want to tell them but he didn't think there was any other way to save Percy and besides, one of the, had increadible healing powers.

"I know a place" he declared anomalously-he though it would be better for them to see the Titan for themselves rather than hear about the worlds first kind monster from Nico's mouth. The others looked at him with various looks of disbelief, which made Nico glare at them.

He had down in Tartarus before, they hadn't- yet they had the nerve to think he didn't know what he was doing. Nico had to count to three to prevent himself from lashing out at his friends. Jason shifted his grip on Percy slightly. His gaze once again falling on the mangled limb on the boy. Jason nodded his head at Nico but said nothing.

Nico mentally called out to his Titan friend, which was hard to do when three sets of eyes are staring at you intently. Percy groaned in Jason's arms and squirmed a bit, instantly drawing the attention othere. Nico used the opportunity to call out. He felt a familier buzz in his mind and turned to the others.

"We need to get to one of the larger caves." The others shot him confused looks but followed nonetheless. Nico half expected Jason to walk slowely, after all he was carrying Percy but he didn't. In fact he moved as if Percy weighed nothing. His gaze fixed on the path ahead, cradling Percy like fragile glass.

The walked about fifty metres when suddenly Percy shot up in Jasons arms. He looked dazed and was still pale but he was verymuch consious and very confused. Jason lowered him to the ground, whilst Nico and the others gathered around. Thalia look a cautious step forward and Percy had one of his daggers against Thalia's chest.

The daughter of Zeus gulped, her eyes wide. Percy sat upblinking, his gaze fixed on the tip of his dagger.

"Percy.." Leo began, his usual teasing tone lost amongst the fear in his voice. Percy's gaze snapped to him his glare deepening.

"How do you know my name?" He demanded his voice empty of any emotion, his gaze cold.

"You told us...well your tattoo did" Leo replied, shifting uncomfortably. Percy's blinked Adam turned to his tattooed arm. His eyes turned as hard as steel. He put his dagger back and Thalia relaxed as if the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders.

Percy awkwardly got to his feet , despite Nico's protests. Percy's visably winced as he put weight on his wounded leg but somehow managed to stay upright. Nico stood up next to him making sure to keep a safe distance not wanting to meet Percy's wicked blades of mysterious power.

"Look who's up" they all groaned, even Percy, as Annabeth emerged behind them once again. Her arms folded over her chest and her face covered in blood, Nico realised - with a sliver of satisfaction- it was from where he'd clawed her face earlier.

"Hello Bethanne" Percy greeted his voice still void of emotion. Annabeth gritted her teeth.

"it's Annabeth" she snapped clearly not at all afraid of Percy's weapons. Possibly a fatal mistake.

Percy simply shrugged, biting his lip. He straightened his back, moving towards the wall on their left. There was a nasty drop but Percy seemed unfazed by it. He looked annoyed, glaring at the ceiling as if saying _why me!_ To the fates.

Nico placed his hand on Percy's shoulder, trying his best to not looks at the drop. Percy recoiled away from his hand but otherwise did nothing to stop the action. Nico decided that that was a good sign. Percy turned his gaze to Nico's, neither of them spoke. In all honesty there was nothing to say. Percy bowed his head in thanks, although Nico wasn't sure what he was thanking him for.

Percy turned to Annabeth who was still looking pissed at the Bethanne thing. Percy moved a step closer to her, his hands twitching.

"Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living. " he stated making Annabeth blink in suprise her grey eyes scanning his face. "Letting your past haunt you is not a way to live so tell me daughter of Athena: are you alive or just breathing?"

His words hit there mark as Annabeths angry mask faded into a look of despair, suddenly she looked like the little girl Nico knew all those years ago, Gods he'd missed her. Annabeth opened her mouth to say something but Percy was already gone.

Where he'd gone and how they didn't notice was a mystery but when it comes to Percy nothing isn't a mystery. Nico had a pretty good idea who he'd gone to, the same person they were taking him to in the first place but he couldn't be certain.

"What do we do now?" Jason asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"I told the others to go back to Raiders cave" for a moment Nico forgot who Raider was. He though about telling Annabeth his real name but got the feeling, judging from Percy's reaction when Thalia said it, that he didn't like being called it very much.

"We should regroup there" Thalia suggested looking everywhere but at Annabeth. They all nodded and retraced their steps back to the one place in Tartarus that they deemed ok. Even though Nico had been in the cave before it semester a lot different now, he could appreciate every little detail a bit more.

Everything had a purpose. Be it the fur on the ground or the bags in the corner. Piper asked Annabeth something but the girl didnt reply. Percy's words had somehow made her shut up. She sat down on what Nico assumed was Percy's bed, Nico's vision flashed red but he managed to real his anger in before he did something drastic.

They all sat in a circle. They had to reach the doors of death soon and to do that they first had to find Percy..once again.

 **Thank you for reading and please review.:)**


	12. Chapter 12- Le Bob

**Hi everyone! It's been a while but I'm here again!**

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* * *

With Percy

* * *

Percy took yet another cautious step forward wincing, mentally slapping himself as he did. He hated how weak he was, how mortal. To be fair he had been crushed by a rock not more than an hour ago but…. He was Raider, the Prince of Tartarus and he was not weak.

The words sounded false even to his own mind, he sighed his entire body deflating, as he leant against the stone wall. He slid down to the floor, feeling a sliver of calm enter him as his weight left his legs.

He pulled up what was left of his trouser leg and risked a glance at the wound. Bile rose in his throat and he screwed his eyes shut, desperately trying he even out his breathing which had become quick and shallow.

"Bob…" He whispered feeling as weak as he did all those years ago. He kept his eyes shut as he felt the ground vibrate slightly, signalling the approach of something big.

"Hello Percy, I am Bob." Percy smiled, a thing he rarely did and risked cracking an eye open to get a good look at his Einstein giant friend. He looked like he always had- a janitor with a broom.

Percy waved weakly, ignoring the fact it made his vision swim. Bob bent down so he could get a better look at his wounded friend.

"Percy is hurt, Bob will help" the gentle giant put his hands on Percy leg and instantly the pain eased. Percy released a sigh of relief, relaxing further into the wall.

"Thanks Bob" he told the still lingering giant, raising an eyebrow when the giant didn't reply. Bob stood again still silent. Percy moved to stand as well, ignoring the displeased look he got from Bob.

"Kronos" the giant whispered and Percy whipped his head around.

"What? No I'm fine don't call him." He tried, groaning when he felt Kronos' presence behind him. He pretended not to notice the waves of concern he felt from his guardian; maybe if he didn't acknowledge his presence he would go away.

"Perseus" yep, he was in trouble. Why else would someone call him his whole real name. He turned around and smiled innocently. Kronos sighed in exasperation moving so he stood directly in front of Percy, a displeased expression on his face. Percy rubbed the back of his neck, finding the floor extremely interesting- is that a new dent?

"Percy called Bob, he had a bad hurtie" Percy tensed as he felt Kronos draw even closer, he'd spent his entire life trying to make him proud.. What if now… Percy's train of thought stopped abruptly when a hand moved under his chin, forcing his head up until his eyes met the concerned golden eyes of his father.

"What happened?" He demanded, gaze flickering between Percy and Bob. Percy kept quiet but Bob answered almost immediately.

"Percy's leg was red and black. Very bad hurtie" Kronos said nothing as he knelt down at Percy's feet- knowing Percy was way to stubborn to sit down- and looked at the wound. Even though it was healed Kronos could see it somehow, Percy had no idea how.

Kronos growled under his breath yet the sound seemed to echo through the empty cavern they were in. Percy shut his eyes and folded his arms over his chest, a barrier keeping his emotions in. Kronos rose to his full height towering over Percy ( by about a head)

Percy sucked in a breath, mentally preparing himself for Kronos to yell at him. What he wasn't expected was for two arms to grab his shoulders and pull him forward. He stumbled forward,against Kronos who wrapped his arms around Percy, holding the boy in place.

A stubborn part of Percy's mind told him to get his act together and show Kronos that he wasn't a little kid anymore, but another part of his mind was soaking up the attention and wanted him to stay in Kronos' warm, comfortable arms. His body seemed to approve of the latter because he found himself paralysed in Kronos' hold.

Kronos rubbed soothing circles on Percy's back, Percy relaxed further.

"I should've never let you out." Kronos murmured, Percy snapped his eyes open and pulled back.

"Wait. No no no no I'm fine it was a silly accident" he would have gone on forever if a hand hadn't suddenly gone over his mouth effectively shutting him up. Percy stared at Kronos, mildly annoyed by his amused expression. Kronos ran his hand through Percy's hair and removed his hand from Percy's mouth.

"It's ok" he purred, Percy relaxed slightly "I know, it's just… I worry for you. You're to young to be out here" Percy didn't feel comforted by his words if anything they made things worse.

"You mean you don't want me here?" Percy whispered once again stepping away from Kronos. As soon as the words left his mouth Kronos' face turned sad. Kronos took to steps forward and before he realised what'd happened his face was once again buried in Kronos' chest.

"How could you think that? My boy you are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I wouldn't trade you for the world." Percy felt tears prickle in the corner of his eyes at Kronos' words but forced them down.

Percy didn't know how long the two of them stood there before his mind shut down and he fell asleep, not knowing anywhere safer to be than in Kronos' arms.

* * *

With the…( I've forgotten how many of them there was… I think 8?)

They had been plotting for about two hours but came up with nothing, they didn't know how to find Percy, didn't know how to find the doors of death and sure as hell didn't know how to find the courage to leave the cave.

Nico, Thalia, Jason and Leo had moved to sit on the opposite end to the others, even though they had forgiven each other they were still a bit salty about the situation with Percy, especially Nico-they had all left him and Percy in a cave; left them for dead.

Annabeth had barely said anything, only saying a couple of words now and again. It made the others uneasy- Annabeth was there leader and usually came up with a way to get them out of tough situations, but now she was as clueless as they were.

"How about we use the map" Leo suggested but the Hazel shook her head.

"While you were…out me and Frank took a look at it." She blushed slightly "we couldn't read it"

"What do you mean?" Leo asked blissfully unaware of the glare Frank sent his way.

"It's all…small….so many lines…so many marks" she murmured, her cheeks bright red. The others risked a glance at the map and immediately understood what she meant. The map was so detailed it was nearly impossible to read. However one thing was obviously: it was a person.

"So the myths were true" Annabeth said, none of the usually curiosity shining in her eyes.

"Aren't they all?" Thalia snorted but she too was surprised. Tartarus was a being, and they were inside him. The thought made Thalia squirm were she sat. Where were they currently? His head? Arms? Legs?

"Is Tartarus male?" Leo asked randomly amusement sparkling in his eyes. Annabeth nodded slowly. "Can you go to his..you know" All the demigods turned green as the mental images appeared in their minds.

"LEO" Jason dramatically yelled, dropping to his knees. "Why? Why Leo why" clutching his head he moaned whilst Leo cackled evilly. Thalia shook her head at their antics, even Nico cracked a small reluctant smile-a rare sight.

"What if we're there now?" Hazel added before adorning a look of horror. Turning to Frank she rapidly shook her head. Leo's smirk vanished quickly replaced with a shocked look.

"Maybe… Or we could be in his armpit" he inhaled through his nose "nah, it would smell like Hermes flying shoes if it was." The others shot him looks of amusement and confusion.

"Hermes flying shoes" Jason repeated his eyebrows drawing together.

"Yeah he's the God of athletes… So he must sweat a river" Jason blinked at the son of Hephaestus (A.N: I had to check the spelling… How the hell do people remember how to spell that?) before slowly backing away.

Leo pouted before his face lit up again "What if…"

"NO" The others screamed, not wanting to hear anymore of Leo's lovely suggestions about their whereabouts.

Jason shivered before turning to everyone "who else is going to have nightmares now?" Everyone , bar Leo, raised their hands.

"To be fair we have nightmares all the time anyway" Nico quipped, the Jason shrugged in a 'true,true' way.

* * *

 **Not sure what that was...but I updated finally.**

 **What should Kronos look like?**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **P.s. Has anyone read Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods? If you have what did you think? If not read it** **!**


	13. Chapter 13- a bunch of rubish writing:(

**Hi everyone! Long time no see! Really sorry but there's a lot of shit currently going on in my life and I haven't had a chance to sit and write until now!**

 **No shout outs because I feel like a car just ran me over and... Just... FML**

* * *

The eight sat in Raiders cave, still recovering from their previous conversation. Leo was sitting in the corner grinning like a madman, Annabeth and Piper were discussing things together in hushed voices. Jason, Hazel and Frank were taking stock of their supplies. Finally, Thalia and Nico were whispering to each other about where they were going to look for Percy. Basically they were all procrastinating.

"Guys we need to get going" Jason reminded them yet again, he wasn't quite sure why he bothered- no one listened anyway.

"What's the point?" Piper mumbled her usual calm expression shifting into a cruel snarl. "We're not going to get to the door are we?" No one spoke. Annabeth placed her hand on Piper's knee, a simple guesture but it calmed the daughter of Aphrodite almost immediately.

"We'll never know if we don't try" Frank reasoned, his words betraying the hopelessness in his eyes. Leo shot to his feet an easy going smile etched on his face.

"Well if you guys are done being pussys lets get going." Everyone glared at Leo but he didn't seem to care. "You all need a reason to keep going? Well here you go...(*dramatic pause*) the last person out has to pay for my next KFC meal." Leo then shot out of the cave quickly followed by Jason. The others simple exchanged looks before charging after them.

They didn't run far though; trying to run through Tartarus was like running through cement. Leo and Jason were neck deep in conversation when the others caught up with them. Annabeth glared at the two of them but they just smiled back.

The continued their trek through Tartarus, unaware of the shadow that followed them.

* * *

 **With Percy**

When Percy woke up he immediately wanted to slap himself. He wanted to show Kronos he was strong... And instead fell asleep. He sat up slowly as he rapidly blinked to rid his eyes of the remaining sleep, he scanned his surroundings: he was in some kind of bedroom he'd never seen before. He got to his feet and did a quick inventory check, thankfully he still had all his weapons.

He needed to leave. He knew that much, part of him didn't want to but he had to go back to his cave and continue his work. It shocked most poeple that he did in fact have duties to do: he had to make sure the monsters were kept in line, recruit new people for Kronos and more than anything make sure the Titans didn't reform. Most of the jobs he did out of choice rather than because he was told to, he liked to have a purpose.

He got into his stance, crouched low on the ground so he wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention. He slowly made his way over to the door, looking through he saw there was four guards between him and the way out. Percy blinked in suprise-Kronos rarely ever put guards on his room and when he did it was only one, not four.

Percy crept back into the room, his mind working a mile a minute as he tried to figure out what could've got Kronos so worried. _Was he trying to keep people out? Or Percy in?_ The thought made his blood boil, he wasn't a prisoner he was a free spirit no matter what anyone said Percy knew that no one , not even Kronos, told him how to live.

Percy's anger got worse as his mind rambled on, he stood up not caring about stealth anymore. He marched towards the door with assassin like swagger. He began working his magic on the door, his emotions effected his power and anger was one of the strongest so it wasn't a surprise to Percy when the door burst open in two seconds.

He stepped out into the hallway of wherever he was, the guards turned to him started by his sudden entry. Percy moved his arm to his right hand was just I front of his shoulder, out of the corner of his eye he saw his blue power dancing on his palm, he drew his hand across his chest and threw it out to the side and the two guards on his right were thrown back against the wall. Two down two to go.

The other two guards stood frozen to his left, Percy almost laughed at their shocked expressions. _Did they honesty think he was some useless kid._ Percy walked up to them, he walked between the two of them grabbing one arm with each hand. He lifted them up with a small tug so the guards turned around. Then he snapped there arms down, the bone broke with a satisfying snap.

To people watching he would've looked insane, with his wicked grin and glowing eyes.

* * *

 **With Kronos**

Kronos was sitting on his golden throne, his eyes closed and his posture slack. He was savouring in the peace and quiet around him. He had been stressed ever since Percy started going off on his own, no matter what people believed Percy was still a child and Tartarus was an unforgiving environment.

Finding Percy again wasn't exactly fun, Percy was wounded which was a rare spectacle. Percy was agile and deadly, he never got hurt in the past. Kronos ran a withered hand down his face, he worried for Percy.

He had put Percy in a room deep within his 'empire' as to prevent the boy from running off.

* * *

 **Oh dear...that was bad... Sorry.**

 **Im tired and am in the middle or reading a awesome book and it's affecting my writing. Sorry again.**

 **let me know what you thought and if you have any ideas about what you want to see next chapter please tell me!**


	14. Chapter 14 - Percy can't stealth

**Hi... so... how's it going.**

 **I'm so sorry this update has taken so long I'm not sure how that ended up happening! Only that I thank you for not screaming at me and ill try not to do it again!**

* * *

 **Raider of Tartarus**

* * *

3rd Person-Annabeth

It was stupid but on some level, Tartarus reminded Annabeth of her old school, the endless corridor that looked like they hadn't been touched for years despite how often they were used. She hated it.

People always assumed that children of Athena loved school but they couldn't be more wrong ,around her mind there was a cage and at school all they did was allow her to open her mind a mere fraction and feed the creature inside, not like when Annabeth did research at home where she could open the cage around her mind as wide as she wanted without fear of getting in trouble by adult or the people who called her 'friend'.

In Tartarus, she felt like the cage around her mind was locked shut and she didn't have the key. The others didn't seem to feel the same way as they slowly wandered through Greek Hell.

"Do you think we'll get a reward after all this?" Jason wondered aloud, his tone light but his eyes betrayed his inner pain. Annabeth did a double take at the question, _a reward_. They'd never gotten a reward for doing anything before, would, this time, be an exception.

"We'd better" Thalia growled darkly, turning her gaze to Annabeth. "What do you think Blond Brain?" Annabeth frowned, not at the question but at the terrible nickname.

"Blond Brain! What? Why?" Leo demanded sounding horrified. Jason looked horrified equally horrified.

"It sounded better in my head!" Thalia defended herself vainly. Annabeth ran the name through her head but couldn't figure out how such a horrific nickname could have ever sounded decent.

Looking ahead, Annabeth noticed two dim lights flickering in the corner of the larger room they were walking around. The two lights shut off but quickly came back on again as if they were blinking…oh.

"Stop" Annabeth urged quietly, the others listened to her command but didn't look happy about it.

"What?" Nico asked sounding extremely frustrated. Annabeth nodded to where the eyes were but they weren't there anymore. "Oh look a cave wall how bazaar!" Nico mock exclaimed.

Suddenly the son of Hades froze, his entire body turning an almost transparent white before he collapsed to the ground not even twitching as he landed on his arm possibly breaking it.

 _'That's no way to speak to your friends'_ a voiced purred from behind Annabeth, she unintentionally found herself relaxing at the gentle voice against her better judgement. _'Didn't your parents teach you better?'_

Annabeth wracked her brain for any memory of who the voice belonged to but came up with nothing, she'd never heard a voice quite like this one before.

"Who are you?!" Piper demanded her voice thick with charm speak, Annabeth found she wanting to tell the daughter of Aphrodite her life story but controlled herself.

 _'You'll find out soon enough'_

* * *

3rd Person-Percy

Why was life so god damn unfair! Percy asked himself but didn't receive any answers, surprisingly. Percy liked putting the things he learnt to use, after all, the hours he spent training it gave him a deep feeling of satisfaction when it all paid off but there was one thing he despised more than anything and that thing was stealth.

It was so painfully boring and stressful that Percy would rather sit through another one of Bob's lectures about why a janitor's broom is stronger that a regular broom. Percy was currently crouched behind a pile of rocks taking in his surrounding and slowly creeping around the room to the tunnel out, and he was so bored! His legs hurt from not standing straight for so long and he couldn't stop yawning.

He really wanted to just screw it all and run for the exit but he held himself back, after all, it was a kilometre long stretch from where he was to where his target is, he may be fit but he didn't think he'd be able to sprint that far without getting caught. If he did get caught Kronos may just kill him, well half-kill him so Bob could heal him and then Kronos would half-kill him again. Percy shuddered at the thought.

Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, Percy stood up slightly and crept further around the rock until he was on the edge and he rolled out to the next pile his muscles screaming in protest. He scanned the few monsters in front of him, it was mainly hell hounds last time he checked and this time it was more or less the same except one new annoyance and their names are Empousai.

The Empousai had hated Percy from the moment they'd laid eyes on him, well actually they'd hated him ever since Kronos had forbidden them from using their charm speak on him , a thing he was eternally grateful for. The vampire-like monsters were just plain weird and just because Kronos had made them swear not to charm speak him, didn't mean that they took every opportunity to 'accidently' trip him over so he'd cut himself. He hated to wonder what they did with the blood that dripped on the floor.

The Empousai were about 2 metres away from him so they weren't far enough away that they wouldn't notice if he tripped, fantastic. He needed to create a bigger distance between himself and the Empousai, or he could use his magic. He didn't want to but it may be his only option, he opened his palm and saw his blue energy dancing across his hand teasingly.

A smirk adorned his features, game on.

* * *

3rd Person- Kronos

Kronos was annoyed, again. Sometimes he loathed his job. Being in charge had its pros of course but the pros barely outweighed the cons, like the fact that no matter how many weapons he ordered to be made to equip his army there was always more needed. He was sitting on his throne listening to another complaint about how much resources section 5 of his forced needed.

"Your Highness" a barely audible voice squeaked, Kronos turned to look at who interrupted him only to see one of the guards he'd sent to watch Percy standing in the doorway looking absolutely terrified.

"What?" he snapped not in the mood.

"It's Percy sir" the guard stammered, Kronos' stomach plummeted. "He's gone."

Kronos' fury pushed any other thought from his mind and all the people in the throne room scattered charging for the exit.

"PPPPPPEEEEEERRRRRRCCCCCYYYY!"

* * *

 **I'm not entirely happy with this but we're slowly getting to the part I've been wanting to write since I first imagined this story. hehe.**

 **BTW the voice that spoke to the seven is a very important character, maybe you could try to guess who it is? ill give you a clue: they're one of the titans who we haven't met before in a Percy Jackson book.**

 **Also quick question: Can Hazel use her metal powers on celestral bronze? I'm not sure if she can so if you think she can or can't please tell me!**


	15. Chapter 15 - Calm before the storm

**Hi guys! Nice to see you! How are you? Ect etc introductions and shit! So I'm going to apologies in advance because not a lot of fighting is going to go down but next chapter I have big plans for Percy so be patient!**

 **shout outs!**

 **Guest: Thanks I will!**

 **Sya: Yeah I'm sorry for the short chapters I really am but the next one is lining up to be at least 3K if not more I just wasn't ready to post it yet but it's coming probably next weekend so don't worry! Thanks though.**

 **shiningsilverwolf: oh yeah! Thanks**

 **OverLordRaven: I'm still on the fence about pairing but I've narrowed it down to** **two possibilities and will tell everyone as soon as I'm 100% sure I promise!**

 **Greekgodsrox: thanks! I'm happy to be back soon and good point about ff it makes sense!**

 **Guest: yeah... My grammar is pretty bad but I'm slowly improving (I hope). Haha maybe it's them maybe it isn't, who knows? (I do muhahhaha) don't worry Kronos and Percy's relationship will be an e** **ssential factor in the story!**

 **pjoandhoo: Thanks! You find out the gender now! If you look!**

 **Guest: oh yeah! Forgot about that! I'm such and idiot!**

 **Pixyice: thanks! It's nice to know poeple will keep reading despite what pairing I do! But I still haven't decided!**

 **BlueAvacadoes: I remember thanks!**

 **ArtemisGoddesOfTheHunt: thanks!**

 **Guest: good point! :)**

 **ArcheressxX: Not dark dark just kind of half dark? Don't worry all will be fine...well kind of!**

 **Aviendhapiragon: Come on its Percy did you expect anything else than him messing up somehow? Doesn't matter we love him anyway!:)**

 **DizzyDaisy37: thanks for the reminder!**

* * *

"PPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRCCCCCYYYY"

Percy flinched pressing his body against the rock in front of him as the word's vibrations ran over his spine. He had hoped the guards would be out long enough for him to get out, this was bad. Very bad. Oh gods he was doomed. He bit down on his tongue so hard he taste metal but still pressed himself into the rock even harder.

There was only a few things that made his chest tighten ; made him tremble in fear and Kronos in a bad mood was one of them.

"Percy has escaped. Find him. Now" oh good, now every one knew he'd escaped. He hated that word 'escape' it made his feel like a prisoner. He'd once told Kronos about that word, after being caught multiple times whilst trying to sneak out. He'd told him that he felt like a prisoner and Kronos had merely told him that he was only a prisoner if he didn't feel at home.

After that Percy had done everything in his power to convince himself that he was at home, he tried to relax in the room of metal that people referred to as his 'bedroom'. Quite a stupid name considering that it had a lot of more important things in it than simply a bed. It had paintings that he'd created on the wall. It had a dent in it from the first time Percy had gotten called 'pathetic' and he'd decided to take his anger out on the metal - a bad move as he managed to break his hand in five different places.

He managed to eventually consider hell his home, but come on people have to understand that no matter how long you stay in a place that's always dark, always moving, always watching it'll never be his home. Not when he could still remember the feeling of the sun on his skin, he could still remember the sound of birds chirping in the giant trees in the park about a mile away from his crappy little apartment.

No Percy stop, he scolded himself. Now was not a time to start throwing a pity party he was a fugitive and a fugitive should never, ever stop moving. Still in his position – crouched behind a rock – he listened for the sound of approaching monsters. Thump…thump…thump. Footsteps. Crap.

Forcing himself to relax he peaked over the top of the rock, there was about four hundred monsters in the room including the Empousai. Crouching back down he drew in a large gulp of air and let it out letting his entire body relax. In. Out. In. Out. He calmed down, controlled his pounding heart. 'Stay here' he though softly, 'let them leave. Search the tunnels.' A wave of panic hit him making him gasp silently, he couldn't figure out where the feeling was coming from only that he probably shouldn't ignore it, he was forgetting something. Something important, but what?

"Found you" a voice whispered from behind him, Percy whipped around drawing his dagger and pointing it in the direction of a voice far too familiar for comfort. In front of him with their hands in their hips and a malicious glint in their eyes was the head of the Empousai.

"Fuck" he muttered looking deep into her eyes trying to make himself look as guilty as possible, maybe he won't be punished as seriously.

"I'm going to enjoy handing you over. I wonder how long The Lord will keep you loop locked up? A day? A month?" She smirked wickedly at his horrified expression. "A year?"

No he wouldn't get locked up not again, not after last time. Oh gods he was going to get shut away. Put in prison, forgotten left to rot whilst the world continued on as of he'd never existed. No one would know the things he'd done, never know what he'd sacrificed to get as far as he had.

A harsh chuckle pulled him out of his internal panic. Percy stood up to face the monster in front of him. He remember Kronos' biggest rule – never attack one of our own. Empousai weren't one of his own, but then again who was? Who was as messed up as he was?

He met the Empousa's stare and smiled crookedly at her. "Tell His Royal highness that I quit" then he plunge his dagger into her heart.

 **Nico**

He wasn't quite sure what happened, one minute he was standing up and talking and the next moment he was lying on the ground looking up at his friends, who were looking down at him in concern.

"What?" He groaned, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself to his hands and knees. So they told him about everything that had happened, the voice, him turning to stone.

"Well….um…ok….that's a little strange" he stuttered head spinning as he got to his feet, nearly falling down again as he did.

"Take it easy" Jason warned, reaching out to support his shoulder but Nico waved him off. He was fine, mostly.

"Don't worry, I'll be ok." He declared quietly wishing that he didn't sound so shaken, honestly he'd been turned into weird things before it wasn't like the physics confused him any more. If a demigods tried to apply physics to stuff that happened to them it would not end well.

The others didn't look convince but didn't say anything instead they shuffled onwards the mood a lot duller than it had been previously.

"That boy back their before…" Piper began trailing of looking towards Annabeth for guidance who simply nodded. "Who was he?" Nico frowned at the question. Where had that come from.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked trying to keep the anger out of his voice, not a hundred percent sure why it was even there in the first place. Frank, Hazel and Annabeth were also watching Nico with a predator's gaze.

"I'm just curious." Piper claimed her eyes wide and her tone defensive. She locked eyes with Nico, a challenge he realised. A test to see how he'd react, how he'd answer. He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.

"He's someone who saved us, we just returned the favour. Well some of us did." He said angrily. Part of Nico hoped that he'd be able to see a bit of regret in their eyes but they managed to keep straight faces. Nico knew that his description was pretty far from the truth. There was another reason why he went back to Percy, why they all did but Nico wasn't sure why yet.

 **? POV**

Stupid Demigods. Immature Gods, bending the rules to suit their purpose! And their actions, it was absolutely ridiculous! Not to mention how uncoordinated their punishments were! Sometimes people would get off with a quick death but sometimes they'd be punished for eternity!

She make them pay for what they've done. Oh they'll pay. Turning around she glanced at the oblivious demigods just behind her. Oh they'll pay. 'After all" she thought staring at the children of Hades and Zeus 'she had something they want or someone they want'.


	16. Chapter 16 - Light

**Hello long time no see! I actually like this chapter so I hope you do to! I'll add review responses later on, I have to go out now.**

* * *

 **Percy**

Percy wished he could say he felt remorse, wished he could say he felt something other than a deep wave of satisfaction as the monster in front of him gawked and then turned into beautiful golden dust. Smirking, he whirled his dagger around his hand – really a mere flick of the wrist but it looked much more complicated – and sheathed it.

Crouching down to the ground he grabbed his gloves and slid them onto his fingers, many thought they were simply leather fingerless gloves. Made to protect his knuckles in brawls and to aid the ever treacherous climbs that came with his line of work; his line of survival. But really the gloves had a much more important, much more dangerous purpose than anyone thinks. They were his most dangerous weapon, a mere carnival trick in the eyes of those whose strength lay in a more powerful zone – a more magical zone – it was amazing how much catastrophe tricks can create.

Percy took a deep breath and peeked over the boulder behind him. It was pretty much clear, Percy wasn't a naturally cocky person but he still knew that the few monsters in the cave before him had no chance against him. Rolling his shoulder, The Raider moved, his steps were silent on the burgundy floor as he walked. He held his chin up high because this was his domain, his demons stood in front of him.

The Raider had overcome his demons a very long time ago.

He released his daggers from their sheaths and swung at another Empousai. The bitch was dead before she even noticed him. Flipping his dagger in his left hand he back-handed his other dagger into the others face, the most annoying thing about killing Kronos' monsters was that Titan King could feel when his own were hurt, not feel their pain per say more of an itch in the back of him mind as one of his freaks abandoned him. Percy had to get out of there and fast.

The other occupants of the room and noticed him by now and were running toward him. Idiots he thought fighting a smile when death comes for you run as far away as possible. Percy ran to meet them sheathing his daggers he clenched his hands into fists ready to use a power he was born to wield. Snapping his hands open, palms flat towards the ground, water trickled towards his fingertips and Percy focused all his attention on the tug in his gut, the burning sensation of water straight from hell dripping down the bare, sensitive skin of his fingers.

Percy unleashed a scream and the water on his hands turned into burning fire and he threw it towards his stunned enemies and they burned, cries of rage echoed down caverns, down the spinal cord of Tartarus himself and Percy smiled.

Under his breath, Percy muttered, "θα βρεθούμε ξανά" (we will meet again).

"Yes, we will." Whipping his head around Percy cursed under his breath. Hyperion stood in front of him that god-damned smirk on his face. The titan wasn't that impressive looking at first glance and if it hadn't had been for the bright glow that covered him; Percy probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between him and any of the other Titans that lingered and Kronos' court.

"Hello, Light-bulb." Percy greeted and the titan growled at the nickname, for the life of him Percy couldn't figure out why the Titan had gotten so pissed by a simple nickname – he beat Percy black and blue when Percy had first worked up the guts to actually say the name to the Titan- Percy had given others much worse over the years so really Hyperion was only being grouchy.

"Raider, I thought I'd made my opinions about that vile name clear," Hyperion growled light flickering around him. 'Like a broken light-bulb' Percy thought grinning.

"And I thought that I told you I don't like your face and yet there you stand." Not Percy's best come-back but his thoughts were devoted to finding his way out. He needed to buy time to make a plan or… no Percy wouldn't think of the 'or' bad things would happen if he did.

"I just spoke to the Boss." Hyperion suddenly told him and Percy fought valiantly against his rising panic.

"Not that surprising, I mean, he talks a lot," Percy muttered because, honestly, he'd probably spent three years listening to Kronos yammer on about one thing or another – like an old man.

"As I was saying" Hyperion gave him a sharp look that clearly said that he knew exactly what Percy had said and wasn't very happy about it. Percy smiled innocently back. "I spoke to the Boss and he told me you were on lock down, strange because here you are."  
Percy was out of ideas by this point and knew that, just like him, Hyperion was just buying himself and possibly others time. He had no time and no plan so he went with the best option and opened his fist towards the Titan and threw a blast of fire-water in his direction from his gloves and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

Thankfully part of Percy's routine when he was younger had been running six miles a day – he loathed running but at the time he'd been willing to do just about anything to stop the monsters from eating him – a thing they took great pleasure in threatening him and it wasn't until he was nine he actually realized they'd been fucking with him. When Percy ran he ran so fast it felt like his feet barely touched the ground. It didn't take long for his lungs to burn, along with his legs, but he'd learnt to ignore the pain for a little while, not an easy task. Percy was really built for long distance running but he could still probably run at the speed of most hell-hounds.

He ran past Hyperion and down on of the tunnels – a vein. Leaping over cracks and darting around corners, Percy struggled to keep up with himself. He needed to remember where he was heading least he run around in a big circle – wouldn't that be embarrassing.  
Finally, Percy fell into a familiar pattern and ran back to Tartarus' stomach, a place filled with so many high walls and ledges he'd be able to hide for a little while. The adrenaline from his escape was quickly fading so Percy eased himself into an even pace and focused his attention on his breathing – he was gasping so loudly could probably hear him all the way in Tartarus' feet.

Percy kept running feeling like he'd just won a war, well, he kept running until he unclenched his fists, then he realised his gloves were pretty much empty. He needed to refill and to do that he needed to go to the Phlegethon- the River of Fire.

 **Annabeth POV**

Annabeth was hungry, tired and her feet burned with pain from the artistic blistered that decorated them and Leo Valdez was not helping. The demigod had been telling them all 'funny' anecdotes for, what felt like, the past decade. Each one was more painful than the last and Annabeth briefly wondered if anyone would mind if she 'accidently' tripped and Leo, who was conveniently walking in front of her, cushioned her fall but 'accidently' fell off the cliff on their right in the process.

Grinning, Annabeth shook her head – wouldn't that be an interesting tale to tell if the every made it out of the endless tunnel of Tartarus. Sadly Thalia beat her to it and wrapped her arm around the son of Hephaestus chest and slapped a dirt covered hand over his mouth, Annabeth wrinkled her nose.

"Alright Valdez, we know your stories are hilarious but enough is enough. Shut up or I'll…." The daughter of Zeus dropped her voice low and whispered something in Leo's ear. Annabeth couldn't make out the words but considering the way Leo's face paled and his eyes widened it was safe to assume it hadn't been anything nice and flattering ; rather something dangerous and terrifying something utterly Thalia. The girl released Leo's mouth – a fatal mistake.

"Apologies your highness," Leo grinned, posture relaxing from its tense state in favour of his usual swagger. "I never meant to wrong you in this way; you see I just have this thing called a sense of humour spelt H-U-M-O-U-R in case you didn't know. It's what fun people have…" Whatever stupid comment Leo was about to make was cut off as Thalia wrapped her free hand around his neck and the demigod held up his hands in surrender, Thalia held onto him for another long moment before releasing him, he then ran into Jason and took refuge behind the son of Zeus -like Jason Grace had any chance against Thalia when the girl was in one of her moods.

"Are you two finished?" Annabeth asked, honestly curious, Thalia and Leo could bad mouth each other until they were rotting in the ground it had almost happened before. But no one speaks of the Capture the Flag incident of 2015.

"Yes, we are you worry-wart. Let's get moving before Annie has a fit." Thalia huffed and Annabeth's mind went blank before she could even yell at her friend for using that damned nickname. What had she said to annoy her friend so much? Even though half the time Thalia was just teasing about stuff like this there was no denying the bitter edge to the daughter of Zeus' voice. They way her shoulders bunched up and her eyes darkened like the night sky.

"I….um…"Annabeth stuttered causing everyone's eyes to shift to her, but not her eyes she noticed, they all looked at her forehead, above her head, to the left of her face or to the right. Swallowing back her tears and turning towards the path ahead. How symbolic she mused turning away from her pain and the fear in the eyes of those she loved the daughter of Athena moved forward into the ever growing darkness, and for the first time in what felt like years Annabeth felt nothing but the determination driven by her own purpose; not to save the world, not to save the Olympians, who had caused her so much pain over the years, who had made her the empty shell of the architect she had been years ago. No, she moved, fought and bled for one purpose and one purpose only: to tear the boy who had murdered her boyfriend all those years ago apart.

She hadn't known much about Luke's murderer until she was summoned to Olympus to hear the news that her boyfriend had failed the mission he'd recklessly taken on, so that he could fulfil his dream, a dream shared by so many people good and bad alike, to be remembered. Luke had taken on a mission – the same mission she was on now – to close the Doors of Death and stopped their anonymous enemy in their path.

She would avenge him and complete what he'd aimed to do in his name, with or without the others help, to do that she needed to kill Percy Jackson murderer of Luke Castellan.

 **Hyperion POV:**

That blasted kid was getting on his last nerve- actually, the kid had been annoying ever since he came running into the place with wet cheeks and bruised knees. Pathetic really, Hyperion should have just killed the kid then and there, if he had so much could have been avoided.

But no, he'd taken the kid straight to Kronos and asked the Boss what to do with the kid. Then his dear friend Iapetus had suggested that they train the kid –"imagine the look on their faces when they found out one of their own was in our army."  
And Kronos, hell bent on causing Olympus as much pain as possible, had agreed without considering the hard work it would take to get the kid into fighting condition. The kid had risen to the challenge and even Hyperion would admit he wouldn't want to be the focus of the kid's rage. Which is why he'd left to find the kid and kill him before anyone else could find him.

Kronos would be furious; no doubt about it, but the Titan Lord would get over it eventually. Hyperion would be cast into the dungeons for months, possibly years, but it would be worth it in the end. Raider just caused too much damage not even that, the kid was strong. Since had been allowed out of his cage the beast had risen to levels unseen before – without realising it they had made a monster. There was nothing the kid wouldn't do; couldn't do – ask him to run to the other end of hell to pick upa rock and he'd do it, ask him to murder his brother and he'd do it.

Raider was a freak, a monster and he would be their undoing if he ever found out what the Titans had done behind his back.

* * *

 **Tada! I think...*awkward silence* um..**

 **A lot of important information in this chapter the gloves and Annabeth's motive especially.**

 **Please tell me what you prefer: Dialogue, internal development or action? I need to know!**


	17. Chapter 17 - DareDevil

**;Do you know what this is? A chapter that's longer than any other chapter, that's what. I hope you're happy with this; it took forever. A lot of this is filler and character relationship development but hey we're slowly getting towards the action type stuff which I'm so excited for.**

 **Shout outs:**

 **Guests: Thank you, don't worry I'm slowly getting quicker at writing so updates will get quicker.**

 **CupCakeHeart2005: I know, I'm taking time revising my pacing and the chapters will get more thorough and slower.**

 **Greekgodsrox: Ha, yeah I had to as well. I'm glad to be back, I've missed this story.**

 **Aviendhaphiragon: I cant tell you yet, *cackles evilly* don't worry though that story line will be vital for the next few chapters.**

 **I'm not sure if that was everyone who has reviewed but it was the most recent ones.**

* * *

 **PERCY/RAIDER**

* * *

The first thing most people learn about Tartarus is that water is bad, at least to some degree. Percy knew that Kronos had some kind of water source back in The Keep; otherwise, Percy would've died a long time ago. A few times, however, the creatures in Kronos' place would give him water to drink and he'd just drink it, trusting them 100%, only to find out that it was water from the Cocytus River or sometimes even the Acheron. They never gave him enough to throw him into an endless spiral of depression but it still made him sad and moody for the next few days.

Percy wasn't a massive fan of any of the rivers but the Phlegethon was, probably, the river he hated the least, it helped as much as it burnt, not to mention the fact it made a brutal weapon. It had also saved his life a few times when he'd picked a fight with the wrong person and ended up severely wounded.

Percy scowled at the wall in front of him, tilting his head up to look at the top, very, very high up. He wasn't surprised by the sudden appearance of the wall but he was annoyed, Tartarus was always changing, always shifting - a thing that had always confused him. Could Tartarus roll over? Could he sit up? He'd always wanted to know what would happen if he moved but he hadn't dared ask.

Percy ran his hand along the wall, debating whether to climb it or find another way around. It was pretty much smooth, it would be very risky to try to climb it, although, it was equally risky try to walk around, and he didn't have a lot of time before Hyperion found him.

"Leo! What the Hades are you doing?!" Percy jolted at the loud voice echoing through the cavern he was currently in, Tartarus' neck. Percy frowned up at the top of the wall, his curiosity was peaked, that he couldn't deny. 'Fine' he thought 'I'll climb the damn wall'.

He planted one foot on the ground and placed the other against the wall and scrambled up to the first little ledge, easy. If only the rest of it was as well. Long journey short, he scrambled and jumped a lot before he managed to secure both hands on the highest ledge. Then he shuffled along until he was virtually underneath whoever spoke.

"We need to keep moving." That voice he recognised, Anna was it? Or was it Annabel? He couldn't remember, honestly, he hadn't even given the girl a second thought.

"We are moving, Annie, just not very quickly." The other girl responded. Percy was almost certain the girl's name was Thalia. Percy heard 'Annie' huff loudly and pursed his lips to avoid laughing at the girl's annoyance.

"Guys, I'm hungry." The weird imp boy moaned and, in perfect sync, the entire group moaned at him. Percy was sympathetic to the boy, though – he hadn't had any food for a day at least.

"In case you haven't noticed we don't have any food and, even if we did, who says we have to give it to you?" Thalia snapped, their voices were fading, they were moving away. Percy waited a few more moments before climbing to the top of the wall and tip- toeing after them. Not that he really needed to bother being quiet; they were really loud.

"Rude! I'm a growing boy and need my food." The imp boy exclaimed. Percy racked his brain trying to remember his name.

"Leo, do us all a favour and shut up." Leo. That was his name? Huh, Percy thought his name had begun with a 'J'.

"The day I shut up is the day Jason admits he needs glasses." Jason? Which one was that? Percy is usually good with names but wasn't doing too well that day.

"I don't need glasses!" Jason shouted. 'Wait… what are 'glasses'?' Percy thought, feeling very stupid in the presence of normal people. Because they were, weren't they? At least to an extent, they had a family, friends and did what normal people did. Percy couldn't imagine what that was like; he could barely remember anything from the mortal world.

"Yes you do,"

"No, I don't!"

"My point is proven." Percy narrowed his eyes, is that what friendship was like? Percy couldn't see what was so great about it. He couldn't deny that the thought did make him feel better; he wasn't missing out on anything, neither were they, though.

"Guys…" 'Annie' sighed; Percy definitely didn't like the sound of friendship.

"Yeah, yeah we're moving." Percy closed his eyes and listened to the sound of their shoes on the floor, they made him seem like a stealth expert.

"Where are we going?" Jason asked quietly, Percy considered the question – they were pretty close to the doors of death, but it was also unlikely that they had any idea where they actually were, the last time Percy checked they were heading in any direction that seemed vaguely right.

"To the Doors of Death, Jason we've discussed this a hundred times already." 'Annie' must've been their leader then, after all, she was the bossy one, leaders are always bossy, just ask Kronos.

"Yes but…" Jason trailed off. Percy huffed silently at his obvious obedience to those around him.

"Guys, listen," Nico commanded, he could remember his name which was something at least. Percy heard it as the group descended into silence - footsteps. Shit.  
"What do we do?" Another boy whispered, Chaos, how many people were there?

"Wait," Annabeth instructed. Percy grinned and walked into the group and cleared his throat, they all jumped Percy fought the urge to laugh. He looked straight at 'Annie' as he offered his own survival tactic.

"Actually, I recommend you either run or jump." 'Annie' scowled whilst the others stared at him amazed; it took all of Percy's will power not to fidget.

"'Jump'?" She repeated, frowning at him. Percy raised an eyebrow at her; to her credit, she didn't withdraw her gaze from him. Percy decided he couldn't be bothered to explain and merely ran to the edge of the ledge they were walking on and leapt off. For a single moment, he was completely weightless as he fell. He heard a scream above him but didn't acknowledge it, he was falling to his death, death by fire and he loved it.

* * *

 **NICO**

* * *

In all honesty, Nico was a bit offended that Percy didn't give him a single glance before he hurled himself off a cliff. Nico saved the dude's life and Percy doesn't even acknowledge his existence, rude. To be fair Percy hadn't looked at any of them aside from Annabeth, weird considering how much the two seemed to despise each other.

Annabeth was standing on the edge of the cliff looking after the insane jumper, gnawing at her bottom lip.

"Should we… um, jump as well?" Nico enquired, Annabeth didn't move, maybe Nico was invisible. Considering how the day was going it wouldn't exactly surprise him.  
"Yes, we should," Annabeth mumbled a few moments later, long enough that Nico had to run the past few minutes through in his head to try to figure out what she was talking about. Before Nico could express his concern about jumping off a cliff after a guy they met in Greek Hell, Annabeth took a few steps back and then ran and launched herself off the cliff as well.

"If I die, find Beyoncé and tell her I love her!" Leo cried as he jumped after Annabeth. 'Great' Nico thoughts, 'are we all going to have to say dramatic last words now?'

"YOLO" Jason followed, Nico frowned.

"Nobody says that anymore dude, now people collect 2D animals and teenagers take pictures of themselves." He called off the side of the cliff, Jason probably couldn't hear him but Nico tried his best, then he jumped.

He was barely able to register the weightlessness of falling before he landed on the hard unforgiving ground. His entire body jolted at the suddenness of his landing, Nico was surprised he couldn't hear any bones break but, hey he wasn't complaining.

"Ouch, that hurt." Frank groaned and Nico took a moment to be grateful for his small size because, by the looks of it, Frank had a much more painful fall than the rest of them. Frank shifted and Nico caught sight of his ankle and wanted to vomit.

"Frank! Are you ok? Oh Gods, your ankle!" Hazel cried as she crawled closer to her boyfriend, the others rushed over immediately but Nico lingered back, health wasn't exactly his strong suit. Instead, he sought out the person that had technically caused the whole debacle. Nico found him walking away from the group in silently, not even glancing back to see if their friend was ok.

"Hey, where are you going?" Nico demanded power walking towards Percy, trying to ignore the stares of the rest of the group as he approached the daredevil.

"I do actually value my life so I'm going as far away from you guy as I possibly can." Percy declared, not even turning around or increasing his pace from casual stroll to the-son-of-hades-is-following-me-I-should-run type pace that Nico was used to.

"You can't leave us here," Annabeth shouted suddenly appearing at Nico's side, he fought the urge to take a step back.

"Yes, I can," Percy told them, sounding a tiny bit like a bratty child; Nico had no intention of telling the boy that, though unless he wanted one of those sharp daggers through his forehead.

"You dragged us off course now you need to put us back on course." Nico pointed out, trying to sound like Chiron back at camp – the calm negotiator. He apparently, considering the gleam of a weapon in Percy's hand, wasn't very good at negotiating.

Percy slashed at the reddish wall to his left; with practised precision he carved an arrow in the wall before turning to Nico, for once Nico had the boy's attention on him, he had to admit he didn't like it as much as he thought he would, the guys eyes blazed so bright Nico was sure next to them the daylight would look like eternal darkness, his lips were curled into a snarl and he was coiled like a python. To summarise – Nico had to clasp his hands together to avoid putting his hands up over his face like the wimp he was.

"I don't need to do anything for you, I don't know who you are -" Annabeth opened her mouth but Percy clenched his dagger tighter and that magically shut her up "- not that I care really, you'll all be dead tomorrow anyway. Do you know what happens in the realm of monsters if you say anything to do with the jerks upstairs? All the creatures down here are immediately alerted to your presence."

Nico felt his knees shake and sat down in a desperate attempted to regain some of his pride. Annabeth, however, stood still and stared at Percy in a mixture of anger and curiosity.

"Were you alerted to our presence? Is that why you were up on that cliff?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. Percy blinked at the question, not looking offended in the slightest, weird.

"No, you were loud enough for me to hear you all the way down here. I was up on that cliff because I had to check you weren't someone else and besides your petty arguments are amusing." Percy grinned, looking past Nico at the group behind them, no doubt at Thalia and Leo who had said argument.

"Then why are you here?" At Percy's confused look Annabeth elaborated "From what I saw and heard you were badly wounded, surely you should be resting?" Percy smiled at her as if her questions were cute. Nico guessed they all looked pretty uneducated and 'cute' to the Raider of Tartarus, which was an interesting nickname, to say the least, if Nico ever got the chance he would enquire after such a weird name.

"You don't 'rest' in Tartarus. If you ever stop moving, stop surviving, stop fighting then I wouldn't count on your odds of ever being able to get going again. To answer your question, I'm heading to grab something from one of the top Tartarus attractions - _Πυριφλεγέθων_ "

"'Phlegethon' - the river of fire." Nico translated, mind whirling, he hadn't really thought about the rivers of Tartarus, there were five, right? How many had Percy seen? All of them Nico assumed but it was still weird to think about, that and the sound of water made Nico giddy (and thirsty).

"Yep," Percy nodded pointing at Nico and grinning before sheathing his dagger and pointing at the arrow "You wanted directions, here you go. Follow this arrow and don't turn any corners, you'll be there in a few hours. Then you'll die." Percy saluted and turned again, Nico opened his mouth then closed it again, how was he supposed to respond to that?

"What the actual fuck?" Thalia exclaimed, Jason looked horrified at her, but Nico wasn't sure if it was because of her language or because she just chose to pick a fight with to boy from hell.

"You should learn to keep your big mouth shut, daughter of lightning. Tartarus had ears everywhere." Percy whispered, Nico couldn't have sworn that Percy's eyes actually changed colour there, into bright gold, but the lack of lighting made it hard to be sure.

Thalia opened her mouth again, but a distant scream shut her up, Percy grinned straight at their group of misfits before looking Nico dead in the eyes.  
"You know what lingers in the shadows, son of Hades, don't let them find you." He warned grin fading in favour of a blank expression and in that moment Nico saw exactly what he needed to see; in that moment Nico saw what hid beneath that grin and confidence. Nico saw a boy forced to live in a world where he didn't belong, he saw the fear and the power; the good and the evil. Nico saw the monster.

"Our friend is injured, please help him." Hazel pleaded eyes wide and she looked impossible innocent as she cradled Franks head in her lap. Percy sucked in a breath at the sight and turned away, but then he cursed under his breath and turned back to the injured boy and ran up to him.

"It doesn't look too bad but healing is slow in this place, you can't fight your way out with an injured soldier so here's my advice: leave him-"

"What? There's no way in Hades we're going to leave him behind!" Piper exclaimed, speaking for the first time in hours, Percy glared at her.

"Firstly, what did I say about the jerks upstairs?" At least Piper had the decency to look ashamed. "Secondly, I was about to say an 'or' if only you'd given me a chance. You could leave him behind or you could heal him in a few minutes, actually at the pace you guys moved I'd say a few hours." Percy muttered. Nico felt weirdly embarrassed at their lack of progress over the past few hours.

"How would we heal him so quickly? You just said it would take a long time to heal, just give us a straight answer for once." Thalia huffed, Percy laughed, not really a laugh more like a cackle.

"Right, I forgot you guys are new here. Anyway…" Percy trailed off and turned to Annabeth, a challenging gleam in his eyes. "You're daughter of Wisdom, right?" Annabeth grinned, straightening her spine. "OK, you should be able to figure this out, what heals people in Tartarus? It's not it's only job and it's not a fun experience but it works."

Annabeth's eyes glazed over as she muttered under her breath. Percy waited, not too patiently, but he folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head. Nico could practically see the cogs whirling in her head before she snapped her head up. "The Phlegethon" She breathed, Percy applauded her, Nico wasn't sure whether it was sarcastic or not but at least the two weren't arguing.

"Yep, the river keeps the wicked alive so they can endure more punishment." Frank muttered 'great' under his breath and Nico snickered while Thalia looked at Percy weirdly.

"You've used it before, haven't you?" She enquired; Percy looked at her before slowly raising an eyebrow in a classic 'duh' look.

"I told you it keeps the wicked alive." He purred, then walked over to his arrow and slashed at it with his dagger until it was it illegible scribbles in a wall.

"There goes our Sat Nav. Great" Leo stared mournfully at the wall as if that arrow was the only thing that was keeping them alive, which, Nico supposed, it sort of was. But they had Percy, he was their human Sat Nav at least until they get Frank healed, then God's knows what he'd do or, as Percy so eloquently put it, Jerks-Upstairs knows.

"What's 'Sat Nav'" Percy asked, the word clumsy on his lips, Nico stared at him. For the first time in a while, they were all lost in stunned silence.

"A Sat Nav is like an electric map you put in your car, some phones have them built in," Piper explained, ever the best speaker out of all of them, Percy's eyebrows drew further together, and he did some kind of magic that gave him a perfect lost puppy look.

"Umm never mind." He muttered but Nico wasn't having any of that.

"You know what a car is right?" Percy gave a sort of shrug.

"I guess, sometimes old 'cars' fall down here. They're always broken but I have a vague idea about what they do." Percy explained kneeling down to get a better look at Frank's leg.

"OK fine, but what about phones?" Percy shrugged but didn't explain this time, concentrating on Frank's leg and nothing else. Nico wanted to know more but Frank's health was a priority at the moment, besides he got the feeling that Percy would get a little annoyed if Nico kept pointing out all the cool new things of the 21st Century that the boy had missed out on.

"It's not a solid break, lucky you, but It needs to be set before it gets healed otherwise it won't grow back properly. Do any of you have any thing long, thin and sturdy?" Leo snickered. "Imp-boy, get your head out of the dirt you know what I meant."

"'Imp-Boy'!" Leo exclaimed, the rest of them laughed at the 'great' nickname. "My name is-"

"Look, Imp-Boy I'm sure you have a lovely name, I'm almost certain it was Leo but I don't know for sure and I don't really care. I just need you guys to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Why? What's going on?" Annabeth asked, Percy shifted uncomfortably, but quickly regained his steely confidence which Nico was slightly jealous of.

"I'm not sure, but you don't want to be here when it does. They're coming back, daughter of Wisdom. Once you get out of here run to your precious parents and plead with them for safety, but don't fight." Nico mind went blank for a moment like the short moment of the sun peaking over the horizon before everything is descended into darkness, a moment of peace before the war.

"No more questions, not now at least, we need to go." Percy turned to Leo and looked at him silently, Leo stared back for a while as well, and Nico felt like he was intruding on something personal but she really didn't want to think about it.

"Oh right," Leo reached into his belt and pulled out some sort of pole which Percy unceremoniously smacked the wall with, the thing split cleanly in two. Nico decided he definitely did not want to have a fight with the boy, ever.

"What the heck are those wall made out of?" Leo gawked at the wall and then at the pole and back again.

"What did I say? No questions Imp–Boy" Percy snapped gently pulling up Frank's trouser leg to get a better look at the wound, Frank whimpered slightly, his eyes were screwed shut and his forehead was drenched with sweat, Hazel shushed him gently.

"That's not my name!" Leo huffed; ringing his hands together in agitation, Nico briefly wondered if the boy was going to punch a wall or something. Nico didn't think that would be a good idea unless he wanted Percy to use the remains of his hand as a belt or something.

"Don't worry; we can have a cliché discussion about our names and backstories later." Nico got the strange feeling that Percy was taking the piss, Gods that boy is weird. But Nico was actually looking forward to 'cliché discussions about names and backstories later'.

"You're really annoying, you know that right?" Jason told him, Nico watched Percy's face carefully but he didn't even react to the comment, yet another difference between to son of death and the child of Hell, Nico would've slapped Jason right across the face if he'd been in Percy's position.

"Yeah, I get told that a lot, I think it my special skill, some people can sing and some can annoy the crap out of people." Percy rolled his shoulders casually; Jason blinked slowly then mouthed 'what the heck?' to Thalia, his sister just shrugged back.

"At what point did you lose your mind?" Thalia asked carefully, once again Percy didn't react.

"I'm not entirely sure, I think about the same time I started finding a cup funny." Percy started laughing, properly laughing with tears and everything "It had a potato on it and said 'What's with all these potato puns?' then underneath it said 'Maybe because they're all so appealing'" Percy cracked up, "A-Peel-ing, get it?" Percy laughed for a few more minutes.

"Umm, how long ago was that?" Thalia wondered, Percy snapped out of his laughing fit and stared at her and gave her a How-Dare-You-Interrupt-My-Laughing-Fit look.

"I don't know, maybe six years ago, I laughed for a week. Oh shit – I left the cup behind." Percy looked up the cliff, the way they came, mournfully. "I'll get it later."  
The group of them stared at the boy who was casually wrapping Frank's leg with a piece of gauze from Leo's belt without a care in the world. Nico hated to admit it but insanity actually seemed quite fun.

* * *

 **THALIA**

* * *

How the hell did they end up stuck with the most messed up human in the world as their only means of survival? Seriously who was that unlucky? Someone in high power had it in for her; Thalia was certain it was Hera - the goddess never seemed to like her very much.

"How is he?" Hazel asked Percy or Raider or whatever the heck his name was, honestly what was with people giving themselves insane nicknames? To look cool maybe, not that it really worked, it was just really annoying. Except Imp-Boy even Thalia had to admit that was a good one.

"He'll live and, hopefully, he'll be able to walk to the river without too much support. It's the fever that's the problem. If you look at his leg you'll see that it's cut slightly which means at he's likely got dirt in his blood." Raider/Percy explained, not sounding particularly concerned about the life and health of their friend.  
"How long will it be before he's really in trouble?" Hazel whispered, gently stroking Frank's forehead not looking at all disgusted by the amount of sweat he was producing. Raider clicked his tongue and titled his head to the side and narrowed his eyes.

"An hour or so by my reckoning, now you have a decision to make – do you want to take him with you to the river or do you want to split up and have a group go get the water and bring it back?" Raider's gaze fell on Annabeth, Thalia huffed - Annabeth wasn't really their leader. She had no more knowledge about this place than anyone else.

"Guys, what do you think?" Annabeth asked them as a group, Thalia was grateful that she was included in a decision finally, she felt like a follower and the bratty teenager in her didn't appreciate it.

"I think we should split up," Frank muttered, the syllables jumbling together in a nearly incoherent mumble if it wasn't for the way Hazel deflated in relief Thalia was sure they'd have no chance translating Frank's words.

"Alright: Frank, Hazel, Piper and Jason you guys stay." Jason didn't look happy but nodded and scooted closer to the others. "Leo, Nico, Thalia and I will go with Raider to get the fire water." Annabeth looked around at them, daring them to question her decision, they didn't. Thalia was happy with her position and by the looks of it, the rest of them were too.

"Alright then, don't waste time with dramatic goodbyes and stuff, they usually mean someone's about to die and I don't tend to kill anyone on an empty stomach so you should be ok." Raider nodded before patting Frank on the head and standing up. Frank opened a single eye to stare at Raider.

"You know the way right?" Thalia checked because he had to check in order to avoid awkwardness later. She realised she probably shouldn't have asked when Raider threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

"No I don't, I've just lived in Tartarus for ages without any clue where the Chaos I'm going. No, I don't, I just wasted the past five minutes having a cliché group split up session so I could take you to the river in the middle of fucking nowhere!" Leo laughed, whilst Thalia gapped at the fuming boy. Someone muttered 'language' under their breath, it was probably Jason.

"Alright, alright there's no need to get your underpants in a twist." Thalia soothed, holding up her hands in surrender, Raider's anger faded as he stared at her in confusion.

"What are 'underpants'?" He asked, Oh Gods no way. Percy façade of innocents faded as he burst out laughing.

"I'm messing with you, chill." Raider clarified still laughing like a hyena. Leo, Nico and Jason all joined in, Thalia got a horrible feeling that the four of them would end up getting along well once it was all over. But no, how could they? Once this is all over the eight of them would all return to the mortal world whilst Raider stayed behind and he'd forget about them eventually because all people do live, forget and slowly they fade into shells of their old selves.

"I wish I had a camera right now." Leo cackled and Raider frowned again at the, no doubt, foreign word. Maybe one this is all over Thalia will ask Hermes if there's any way to get a dictionary down to the boy.

"We should get going," Annabeth suggested once the boys had all calmed down. Raider nodded in agreement and gave Hazel a flask of water and warned her not to drink unless it was an emergency, the daughter of Pluto paid rapt attention to his warning before thanking him.

Thalia wished she didn't see the comical way Raider's eyes widened at her gratitude, but she did see and her heart clenched painfully, shoving the memory way she turned her mind back to the task at hand.

"How long is it, there and back?" Raider pursed his lips before glancing down the path he'd tried to take minutes before as if he could see their path and all their obstacles. He looked back at Frank and swallowed a weird look in his eyes, not concern but something far worse.

"We should leave." He said instead and stood up and walked towards their salvation, at least Thalia hoped it was.

Thalia saw Nico open his mouth and hoped he'd say what she wasn't able to, that they were already too late, and that they should just stop. But her cousin merely closed his mouth again, lips set in an expression of determination, Thalia tried to ignore her disappointment.

"Lead the way, Raider," Leo instructed, Raider didn't move but it wasn't reluctance that made him stay, rather like he was saying goodbye.

"Come on," And they were off, Thalia felt like a proper hero because, no matter how small, this was a quest. They had a target, they had a leader and they had a living guide. What else could they possibly need? Food would be good but hey, you can't have everything.

They didn't get far before Leo got bored of the silence and started singing his own version of Beyoncé if it could be called that.

"Who run the world? Leo Valdez…" He sang, Thalia looked at Raiders back and telepathically pleaded him to smack his head into the wall.

"Leo, is your name then Imp-Boy?" He noted. Leo's eyes lit up until Raider uttered the amazing words that were his nickname.

"Is it just my name you forgot? Or does everyone else have nicknames too?" Leo asked, grinning evilly. Thalia prepared for the worst as Raider pivoted on his heel and looked at each of them in turn whilst walking backwards.

"I know you're Thalia and you're Nico but I don't know anyone else's names. Although I mentally refer to you as Imp-Boy, of course, and you're Wise-Girl." He pointed to each of them in turn before turning back around again.

"The blond with glasses is Captain Perfect, the injured man is Legolas, the Aphrodite girl is Beasty and the other girl is Magneto." Thalia could only imagine what the others would think of their nicknames. "Actually Thalia you can be Punky and Nico you can be Deathly Hallows." Thalia was less amused.

"How do you not know what a camera or Sat Nav is but you do know about Legolas, Magneto and Harry Potter?" Annabeth asked not looking that fazed by her nickname, to be fair it wasn't like the girl was called 'Punky' which honestly was the worst out of all of them.

"You'd be surprised what the creatures down here talk about." Raider muttered, "I'm not kidding I'm pretty sure half the Empousai down here have a ridiculous crush on Evan Peters who is Quicksilver apparently."

"He's not bad looking" Nico mumbled, Thalia blinked but tried to stop from giving Nico a weird look, she sometimes forgot about his sexuality.

"I've never seen him so I don't know but I guess you like what you like." Nico stopped dead in his track and stared at Raider, his eyes shining with hope.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Nico whispered, Raider raised his eyebrow and glanced at him over his shoulder Thalia didn't bother pointing out the fact they had to hurry because she knew that Nico needed to hear this more than anything.

"No, it doesn't bother me, it shouldn't bother anyone. People are lucky to be alive and to be able to bear the burden of love. Some of us can't and some of us never will. Never forget how fortunate you are." Raider said wisely, smiling wonkily as if his face just wasn't built for the expression the thought was surprisingly heartbreaking.

"Thank you," Nico told him and once again Raider stiffened at those two words before spinning back around and walking slightly faster than before. Thalia supposed it was only fair that they work harder considering the way time was running out.

"You said love was a 'burden', why?" Annabeth asked her eyes expressionless but if Raider noticed the way the atmosphere turned darker he didn't say anything.  
"Because I've never seen love but I've heard the cries of those who have, I've hears women weep for their husbands more times than I can count. Love is rather like a pet, lovely and exciting while it's new but gradually it dulls and becomes no more than an annoyance but no one has the strength to let it go, it always leaves you before you can leave it."

Raider increased his pace until they all had to jog slightly to catch up. No one said anything for a while, meaning that it was about a minute before Leo acted like a prat again.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with… R" He whispered in his best British accent, for whatever reason.

"Is it Raider?" Nico asked. Leo huffed which was answer enough. "Leo, no offence, but you're terrible at this game."

"Alright then, if you're so good at this you have a go." Leo challenged, Nico grinned and the shadows around them seemed to curl inwards.

"Alright then, I spy with my little eye something beginning with – hey look water." Thalia blinked at Nico who was just staring into the distance, Thalia tried to see the 'water' but it was too dark for her to see anything.

"Yes and no, Deathly Hallows what you're seeing is, in fact, the river Styx, however, you should trust me when I say you should not give your friend water from there." Raider cautioned, Nico blinked but his gaze didn't shift from the River Styx.

"The two rivers are close together, that's strange," Annabeth noted. Raider frowned muttering under his breath.

"Not really, how do I explain this…. Ok put it this way, one of the rivers always appears to be close to you, in this case, the Styx but it's never the River you need, typical right? Anyway, all it does is tempt you, your need for water is so safe I bet you're almost tempted to run over there and grab some water from it right now, it may be for yourself or for your friend. But it's not real as in it doesn't have the benefits from the really river rather all the curses that come with it."

Thalia stared at the river and swallowed thickly, it looks so real. How many times had Raider been tricked by the water, how much had he suffered before he was able to tell the difference between right and wrong?

"So it's not the river we need?" Leo asked Raider shook his head and grinned like magical rivers were regular occurrences, Thalia supposed that in Tartarus they were.  
"Nope, but the good news is that usually there is a wall where the 'Styx' is now, but thanks to the river we can take a short cut around.

"Only problem is that there's a huge river of Hate in the way." Annabeth snapped, Thalia jolted away from the girl surprised by her sudden change in demeanour but was less shocked than she would have been a few years ago before…

"Ye have little faith, Wise-Girl. I've done this hundreds of times, don't worry." Raider winked at Thalia as if she was in on some kind of joke, Thalia widened her eyes at the boy trying to give him an I-Have-No-Idea-What-The-Heck-You-Are-Talking-About look.

Raider practically flew over to the river, his legs moving faster the Thalia thought was possible but she decided that she didn't really know how Raider did things.  
The rest of them ran to catch up, well, it was more like they jogged with an extra zing of flailing arms but they were tired and hadn't eaten in a while. By the time they reached the river bank, the boy had both hands an inch away from the river and his body was taut with concentration.

Thalia had never seen the boy so still before, nor had she seen water act the way it did a moment later. Time seemed to slow, along with the water. It slowed down until it was hardly moving then Raider ripped his hands apart and the water flew to the side, leaving a bone dry path for them to walk across.

"How the..." Thalia muttered, head spinning.

"Hurry up, this is really heavy," Raider growled out through gritted teeth, Thalia was still frozen in shock because no human could do that; maybe a half human could, though. Was Raider a…

"Punky, for the love of Chaos move!" Raider snapped, shifting his hands as if he was bearing a heavy weight, which he kind of was. She snapped out of her stupor and sprinted across the gap in the river, trying not to picture the water tumbling down onto her, the river was so deep she'd be lost the moment it fell. It didn't work, by the time she reached the other side she was hyperventilating.

"Raider, nice to see you again," a voice called, Raider cursed like a sailor, he cursed enough that Thalia was certain Jason would've passed out had he been with them. Thalia searched the river bank for the owner of the voice, but it was too dark, it always seemed to be too dark in the depths of Hell.

"Run." Raider told them, none of them moved. Raider didn't flinch as the shadows retreated or as the light figure approached, his gaze stayed on them.  
"Or the monster that leads them." Another voice purred, eerily similar to Raiders own. Still, the boy by the bank didn't move, didn't flinch.

"You've been quite the trouble maker, Perseus." Thalia grinned, Perseus? What an interesting name, for a moment Thalia imagined sitting in on of the cabins at camp, just like they used to, except this time Raider was there. She imagined they were playing truth or dare, someone asked Raider his real name and he told them. It was a false memory but it was nice.

"I won't go back, not again. Guys, it's only a few more miles walk to the river, run forward and don't look back." Raider smirked and let the river drop. He then got to his feet, a grim look in his eyes.

It was so cliché Thalia was certain Raider would've hated doing it but he did it anyway, he ran and jumped straight into the river of Hate. Someone screamed, but Thalia only watched in silence as their only hope washed away.

Thalia could only watch as the River of Hate faded like the mirage it was.

* * *

 **A.N: Rise of the Tomb Raider is amazing, it was my inspiration for this story and id finally out on PS4 so I played through it and it was spectacular!**

 **A.A.N: Please tell me whose POV you'd like to see, not Raider/Percy for reasons. XD but anyone else is cool.**

 **Thank you for reading, you're all the best and I love each and everyone of you, not in a weird way I promise. It's because of you I write and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	18. Chapter 18 - What breaks a person?

**Hello everyone, I hope your having a great November and a great bonfire night!**

 **This chapter contains a lot of broken up scenes which are vague in meaning until the end just please bare with me! :)**

 **Shout Outs:**

 **Guest: Aww thank you so much! Thanks for sticking with me through this story, it means a lot to me.**

 **Aviendhaphiragon: I know it just feels nicer to do it this way and my laptop also has a habit of glitching when I PM people so its safer for me to do it this way, I hope you understand.**

 **Mavis Senpai: I will do, not both this chapter but you'll get one this chapter and the other next time.**

 **Guest: I shall do**

 **Guest: thanks for the encouragement :D**

 **Rainy-Round: OMGs I hadn't considered him *evil smirk* hehe I have a plan now, thanks for the awesome idea :)**

 **PraetorFable: Thank you. Thalia will get another POV soon and Ive narrowed down the paring to a few people and shall tell you soon.** **TheMasterTrident13: Thank you so much! I agree! Not this chapter but next time ;D**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: (btw that was a long username :D) Thanks for the suggestion, it was helpful; any suggestion is helpful.**

* * *

 _THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT._

 _WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, YOU FREAK?_

 _There was a man with dark hair and eyes that were a familiar fusion of green and blue, the man looked down at him with so much contempt it physically hurt._

 _Then there was a woman, she was beautiful. She had warm eyes and soft brown hair, the smile on her face was so kind but then that look faded away into burning distaste._

 _WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?_

 _WHY ARE YOU SO PATHETIC?_

 _THE WORLD WOULD BE A WHOLE LOT BETTER IF YOU'D NEVER EXISTED AT ALL._

* * *

 **ANNABETH**

"We have to go back," Nico huffed as he ran beside her. Annabeth ignored him and tried to run faster, despite her body's protests.

"We can leave him there," Thalia continued, easily matching her strides as Annabeth tried to outrun the guilt that threatened to consume her, not because they left Raider behind but because of the pain on her friend's faces.

"He's not there anymore, he's not anywhere anymore," Annabeth snapped, stumbling to a halt. She bent over bracing her hands on her knees as she heaved great gasps of air, it left a metallic taste in her mouth but she didn't dwell on it.

"You don't know that," Nico growled, panting as well, Annabeth shot him a look but the son of Hades wasn't going to back down. "He didn't leave us behind, so we shouldn't do the same to him." He rationalised, Annabeth narrowed her eyes.

"He didn't help us either, in case you haven't noticed, he never actually told us how to get to the doors of Death, nor did he tell us where the Phlegethon is or how much water we need. Are you sure he's as great as he has had you believe?" Annabeth shot back, Nico bared his teeth at her and Annabeth mirrored to action.

"Look, guys, you both have really good points but we have to consider that Frank is dying and Raider could wash up anywhere," Leo put in, stepping between her and Nico as if they were about to tackle each other and brawl like animals.

"Leo is right guys; we need to go," Thalia mumbled, a slight blush colouring her cheeks, Annabeth squinted at it.

"Why Thalia, did you just say I was right?" Leo grinned, stepping closer to the girl in question and placing his palm over his chest, Annabeth blinked, her mind reeling to catch up with the sudden change of conversation.

"Don't get used to it," Thalia deadpanned, pivoting on her heel and walking in the direction Raider had told them to go. "We'll do this your way Annie, but don't get used to it."

Annabeth turned to Nico, but the boy had already shoved past her and was hurrying after his cousin, well, hurry wasn't the right word more like a sharp march.

"You should be so worried about him," She told the whole group as she stumbled after them, her legs like jelly after their impromptu sprint, Nico turned to glare at her, "I think he can handle himself and don't think a river is strong enough to take a spirit like that down."

She could feel stares on the side of her head as she walked, not that she turned to look at her friends to see if her words even registered, sometimes the truth was hard to comprehend, that's why people lie so much; why tell irrational truths when you could tell easy lies?

Annabeth meant every word, though, she'd met many people through her years, she'd even had the pleasure of meeting gods and goddesses over the course of her life, but she had never met anyone as amazingly original as Raider, not that anyone would ever know that her pride wouldn't allow it.

Raider wasn't like anyone else; he was made up of three defining beings: Gods, humans and the beasts of the underworld, three personalities that were so different yet so similar. Annabeth had seen the three battle each other before and Raider was that fight, he was the normality of humans, the power of gods and the brutality of Gods. Annabeth thought it was a great gift; an uncontrollable curse.

Many young children dreamed of being powerful beings with incredible power but Raider didn't look like he even cared if he was normal or not, he was just ok being Raider and that was good enough for him, Annabeth first noticed it back when he was talking about that stupid cup it was hard not to stare at him in that moment. How could he possibly know what made him different when he couldn't even remember what a 'camera' was? He couldn't even remember what a car looked like, except when it was a pile of rubble.

Annabeth never felt so confused than she felt when she watched a random boy from the middle of nowhere stop a river flowing like it was a natural occurrence.

* * *

 _Not like that. What are you doing? I said parry not dodge, can't you do anything right, stupid kid._

 _He swung the sword around again but his side was still bruised and the action was sloppy, a second later a hand came out from behind him and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him at the hard unforgiving wall behind him._

 _You're so weak, why don't you get off your ass and do something._

 _He spat in his opponent's face, he could a swift kick to the ribs for that._

 _Get up._

 _He couldn't it hurt too much, black spots erupted across his vision as his poor ribs were the subject of another round of kicks._

 _Stop it, he yelled or at least he tried to but no sound came out. More kicks, more punches. Someone screamed. It took a few moments to realise it was him who was screaming. Finally, the pains seemed to stop and he relaxed, his body still jerked and he could fell a weight falling on his side but the pain was gone._

 _That was his first defeat, far from his last._

* * *

 **ANNABETH**

"He didn't happen to mention how far away the river is, did he?" Leo asked the group after the sound of their footsteps had faded into shuffling. Annabeth shook her head trying to pick her feet up but her entire body was shutting down without her consent. In the back of her mind, her determination thrashed about wildly, trying to escape the brutal cage of exhaustion.

She was just so tired. It wasn't like ordinary weariness it was mental exhaustion which was followed by burning hatred for those who had sent her and her friends to Tartarus promising that they would be shielded from harm, like a child being told about Father Christmas she had believed them. She wouldn't be fooled so easily again.

"I hate the Gods," a voice rang out, shaking with fury. It took a while for her to realise the words had come from the mouth of Nico, a boy who had once admired the gods with such awe and passion, 'this is what this world has done to us,'

"What?" Thalia whispered, eyes shifting to the cavern ceiling as if Zeus' lightning could reach down to them and strike the boy down.

"I hate that they forced us to do this, I hate that I let them force me to do this, I hate that after this is all done everyone will continue living as if nothing ever happened down her. That's not how this should end." By the end of his rant, Nico was leaning heavily against his black swords which he had jammed into the ground a few seconds before.

No one said anything for a while, the deafening silence was answer enough; no one in Tartarus would ever fight or defend the gods again.

"They don't actually know what it's like down here, do they?" Leo whispered, shuffling on the spot his hands instinctively running along his precious belt.

"I don't think anyone really knows all of Tartarus' secrets," Annabeth answered, her gaze flickering between her group and the river mirage that she knew was behind them, holding someone hostage.

"I pity the poor soul who does find them out," Leo declared, following her gaze. Annabeth felt her legs get weaker and she fell to her knees, like dominos the others mirrored her stance.

Annabeth's vision flickered and she rolled to her feet and ran back to the river that stole their only means of survival because something had gone wrong and she needed to know what. They hadn't slept for days and yet the exhaustion only just caught up with them, it didn't make any sense.

"Where are you going?" Thalia shouted from behind her, the sound of footsteps thudding behind her, echoing through the cavern only made her go faster.

"To find answers." She said simply and the others fell silent, she couldn't help but notice that the journey back seemed a whole lot easier that the sprint away.

* * *

" _Oi, useless get up I need to use you as a training dummy… I'm talking to you, boy". He still didn't move, he wasn't sure where he was but he did know that he wanted to go home._

 _He must have mumbled something of the same context because a second later he was being viciously ripped from his corner that dragged by his shackles back to the room he'd been beaten in the evening prior._

 _"_ _Let me go", he'd yelled but the thing dragging him had only laughed at him, he clambered to his feet his entire body throbbing with agony unparalleled to anything that he'd ever felt before._

 _He was untied and lifted to his feet, yet again a wave of agony fell over him and he wished again for him mother, for her warm smile and caring hands as she bandaged yet another cut from playing too harshly with the other kids at school._

 _A metal sword was shoved in his hands and he instinctively wrapped his hand around and crouched down, bringing his right hand out in front of him. It was a floppy imitation of the position of the creature in front of him, almost human-like except for his evil eyes._

 _The eyes of a monster, murderer – people his mum had told him that, no matter what, he should always run from, but he couldn't run, not after last time._

 _"_ _Get up and fight like a man, weakling." That nickname had sparked something in him, awoken a beast that should've been left to rest._

 _He swung and slashed with the sword, but his enemy had been waiting for that and parried that motion effortlessly, he was waiting for a logical action. A monster waits for a pattern and then strikes. So he didn't use any pattern he just slashed, dodged and parried. He'd never been very athletic so he hadn't attempted to do anything cool like roll out of the way but he did jump and twist._

 _His enemy never once looked fazed by his foolish attempt at being a warrior, because he wasn't born a fighter, he was born in a world where the hardest things in life were what outfit to wear and getting to school on time. He was a child in the world of ancients._

 _So he was overpowered and beaten within an inch of his life, he was beaten until the pain went away._

 _Every single day or was it every night? He couldn't remember how the concept of time worked anymore. How did his mum teach him? With the clock, but he didn't have a clock._

 _Eventually, he stopped thrashing and fighting. He just stood there and took the hits with no expression and no regret, because he didn't know what else to do. At the end of their fifth annual session he turned to his enemy and stared at him through his swollen eyes and told him:_

 _"_ _I will kill you," then he passed out cold, from one kind of darkness to another._

* * *

 **ANNABETH**

The river was gone.

They were completely and utterly screwed, and for once she just laughed about it, because it was funny wasn't it? The four of them standing in a line staring at nothing looking pissed beyond comprehension, they must've looked ridiculous.

Her laughter echoed through the cavern and Annabeth could almost picture giants and monsters looking up from their daily activities of bugger all and charging towards them, weapons in hands.

The monsters were spiders and hopelessness was their web, Annabeth's hatred of spiders only grew at the thought.

"We should go look for him," Nico suggested straightening his spine in an attempt to look optimistic but the defeat in his voice shattered the façade before it had even formed.

"Where he could be anywhere by now, he could be dead?" Annabeth snapped all her fight and fury draining out of her, abandoning her just like the gods had, like Raider, like Luke.

Luke, the only person who had ever appreciated her just like she needed, the only person who hadn't questioned her tactics but held her in such high respects that he never thought ill of her plans. He was perfect for her.

"Don't say that! He's fine, I know he is," Nico shouted, his lips rolling into a snarl.

"Oh you do, do you? Well, then why don't you tell us where he is?" Annabeth drawled, Nico opened his mouth to respond but Annabeth beat him, "You don't know, you can't possibly know and you're stupid to pretend you do,"

She didn't notice Nico move before the younger boy had her pinned to the ground and was punching her in the face, she laughed as pain rolled through her, every time her face snapped to the side Nico pulled it back and hit it again.

"Do you feel better yet?" she asked between punches, Nico hit her again with renewed vigour, Annabeth still didn't fight back because she knew the importance of what was happening.

Nico was ripped from her by Thalia, distantly Annabeth wondered what took her so long but didn't voice her question as she rolled onto her side and curled into a foetal position. After a long minute, her ragged breaths slowed and she slowly got to her feet, not meeting her friend's eyes, she straightened her t-shirt and whipped a trail of blood from her lip and walked back the way Raider had told them to. She couldn't hear anyone walking behind her and the thought didn't bother her as much as she thought it would.

"Wait," Thalia called, Annabeth ignored her and resumed her walk. A warm hand clamped down on her shoulder but Annabeth only rolled her shoulder and continued. She had her path laid out before her and no reason to turn back so why should she?

"Annabeth, I…" Nico began but trailed off, Annabeth smirked internally. It was amazing how quickly the others fell over themselves when they were faced with determination, it was fascinating.

"I know what you're doing Annie, it's not going to work," She wasn't sure when that nickname had caught on but she wasn't happy about it, it was worse that Wise-Girl and that was saying something, seriously who calls someone that?

"For the love of…" Thalia huffed and then there were footsteps behind her, Annabeth didn't turn to see how many of her friends were following her, she merely breathed through her swollen nose and kept going.

* * *

 _"_ _Rise and shine sleeping beauty" A voice called, it was the monster-man again, he really hated the monster man._

 _"_ _Get up!" The voice bellowed, then cursed as it no doubt found out about his new hiding place: and old locker from who knows where turned on its side and, more importantly, locked._

 _"_ _You annoying little cretin, I don't know why I didn't kill you in the first place," the voice snarled, hidden in his locker he screwed his eyes shut as he prepared for whatever punishment he was about to receive, he distantly hoped that they wouldn't punch him in the face, it always took longer to heal. That being said, kicks to the abdomen were also quite painful, he hadn't eaten since he arrived and his stomach was sensitive enough as it was._

 _Suddenly he was thrown into the locker side as gravity shifted until it settled with a crack as it hit a hard surface, his breath left in a gasp as he crashed against the door and the lock gave way to a snarling face._

 _A hand wound round his waist and he lashed out against his attack, scratching and biting with new found strength, they'd actually given him water that morning and he'd been feeling re-energized ever since._

 _"_ _OI, not here - save your strength… oh wait, you don't have any." The voice laughed as he continued to fight until his arms went numb from exhaustion, he felt his heart slow in his chest and his breath slowed in response. His body went into shut down slowly, the last thing left was his face and so, as a final act of defiance, he sunk his teeth into the arm around his neck and everything went black._

* * *

 **HAZEL**

"No, none of that you need to stay awake," Piper told Frank as the boy's eyelids fluttered for the hundredth time that minute, Hazel tightened her grip on his hand in response.

"Where the hell are they?" Jason demanded, the word 'hell' clumsy on his lips. Hazel gazed around; hoping beyond hope that the others were going to conveniently return in a second, but life was never that simple really.

"Hell…" Frank muttered Hazel leant closer hoping that he'd say something else but the boy fell silent again eyes fixed on the ceiling above them that seemed too impossibly high for anything underground.

Hazel knew that her eyes were more adapted to the darkness than the others but the endless realm of darkness was still painfully…well dark. She couldn't see any sign of life around them which made her uneasy, it was weird; she'd expected monsters at every other corner and titans around the others. She wouldn't say that she was disappointed but she was surprised.

Frank coughed and Piper hummed to calm him down, a thing the daughter of Aphrodite was very good at. But his coughing didn't subside, if anything it grew louder. It was horrifically loud after the long moment of silence they'd been enduring.

"Shush, breathe Frank, just breathe," Piper whispered again, charmspeak thick in her voice as Frank hacked, but her voice was lost in the darkness.

"Piper…" Jason warned, eyes flickering to something behind them, Hazel didn't dare look. Instead, she pulled frank into a sitting position as her boyfriend continued.

"DUCK" Jason shouted, hazel followed his instruction half tackling frank as she did so. Nothing happened and Hazel began to shift but Jason's hand clamped down on her leg and she fell still again.

"Little demigods… where are you?" A kind voice whispered from the darkness, Hazel screwed her eyes shut and tried to keep still.

But then everything fell apart as Frank coughed again, Hazel felt herself coil up like a spring as cold breath tickled her neck.

"There you are,"

* * *

 _He came back around in the safety of mist and shadow. He was back in his cell with the reassuring cold weight of metal around his ankle. Shifting onto his back, he squinted into the darkness feeling eyes on him as he did._

 _"_ _Hello, there" A voice purred, different to last time. Cocky and female and uncomfortably unfamiliar a woman walked up to him with a swagger in her step, he flinched back and growled at the woman who laughed at him._

 _"_ _You're adorable," She cooed and he bared his teeth at her and got to his feet, the metal on his feet making his movements slow and awkward._

 _"_ _Who the hell are you?" He snapped, it wasn't the first time he'd asked anyone that question but it was the first time he got an answer._

 _"_ _I'm an Empousa sweetie and I am going to make your life very difficult for the next few hours," She smirked at him and folded her arms over her chest as if waiting for him to beg for mercy, to cry and plead. He threw his hands out to the side and glared at her through his bangs._

 _"_ _Come on then," He challenged and she laughed again, he felt a bruise erupt on his pride but made room for the pain just like he's been taught to._

 _"_ _Not like that, you look bad enough as it is." She sang and leant against his cage door and levelled him with a look of distaste._

 _"_ _Who are you?" She asked and his mind blanked._

 _"_ _What?" He asked, lowering his hands, the woman or Empousa closed her eyes and when she opened them again they were sparkling with glee._

 _She stood back on her feet, he noted that the action looked wonky and wondered if she had something wrong with her foot. She snatched his wrist up and clamped a weird bracelet around it. With a flirty smile, she pressed a button and pain slashed across his skin. He screamed as he fell to his knees._

 _"_ _We can't afford to beat you twice in one day, can we? This seems like a better method." She explained then shrugged in a 'what are you going to do about it?' fashion._

* * *

 **HAZEL**

Jason screamed and flung himself at the kind woman who had found them, for a moment Hazel applauded his bravery but her elation fell away as the woman in front of them easily defeated the son of Jupiter and threw him to the side. Piper tried to say something to calm the woman down but she barely made a difference, if anything Hazel relaxed at her soothing words.

"You're all so pathetic, I mean come on I literally beat you in a few minutes, I thought you were mighty heroes." The woman taunted, hazel stiffened until she took in the woman's dark hair and clothes… she was as dark as…

"Nyx?" The primordial goddess turned her dark gaze on Hazel whilst Jason clambered to his feet and started holding his shoulder.

"Welcome child took you long enough." Nyx drawled, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder and levelling Hazel with an unimpressed look. "What gave it away, was it my appearance or my aura?"

Hazel frowned and tried to sense any kind of aura around the goddess but couldn't feel anything, Nyx smirked at her.

"I've devoted many years to masking my aura, makes it harder for people to see me coming. It's quite brilliant, isn't it?" Hazel opened her mouth but Piper spoke before she could say anything.

"What do you want from us?" Piper asked and Nyx turned her obsidian eyes on the daughter of Aphrodite her posture relaxing and entire being seemed to shrink before them.

"Good question," Nyx complimented but fell silent after deep in thought whilst hazel and her friends waited. Frank began heaving violently and Hazel dashed to his side hands fluttering over his face and chest, unsure of what to do. "Your friend is injured, why aren't you helping him?" Hazel's eyes narrowed at the accusation.

"We are helping him stay conscious and, more importantly, alive while our friends look for a cure," Hazel snapped then flinched, realising her mistake.

"So there are more of you down here, interesting. What is this cure you speak of?" Hazel didn't trust herself to respond, thankfully Piper took charge of their conversation; she was the best speaker out of the group.

"Just water," Piper told her vaguely, the goddess looked confused for a fraction of a second before her eyes widened and a charming grin adorned her features.

"Oh, I see you've met him haven't you?" The goddess asked cocking her head to the side, her fringe fell over her eyes, a veil to her eyes; a veil to her soul.

"Met who?" Piper replied worrying away at her bottom lip.

"I think you know but I'll play your game, you've met Raider." Hazel flinched at the harshness of the goddess' voice as she uttered his name, Hazel wondered if there was any history there. It did seem that in Tartarus everyone knew each other; it's a small world after all.

"We've run into him once or twice," Jason responded, eyes narrowed at the goddess. "What's it to you?"

"That boy is nothing but trouble with a pretty face, I recommend you watch your step around him; he's not as innocent as he'd have you believe." The goddess warned slowly backing away from them into the shadows, Jason walked after her.

"What do you mean?" He demanded as he held his sword out in front of him, Hazel wasn't sure that was the best idea in the world but said nothing.

"Run boy run, this world is not meant for you. Run boy run, they're trying to stop you. Run boy run, this race is a prophecy." Nyx's voice faded away, the lyrics of her song lingering in Hazel's head long after she'd faded.

"That was weird" Jason stated, Hazel levelled him with a 'you think?' look, Jason pulled a face at her then walked back to Piper.

"That was an interesting song," Piper muttered staring into the distance with a faraway look on her face.

"You don't say, that's going to be in my head for days," Hazel informed them gravely the song playing over and over in her head like a broken record.

* * *

 _It was 'duel' time again, aka, beat innocent children time. Somehow he always ended up being said 'innocent' child. He was innocent compared to the demons around him, at least he thought he was until that duel because that duel was the first time he got the upper hand; it was the first time he became just like them._

 _"_ _Parry not dodge, will you ever get this right you little shit!" His opponent roared, repeating the usual line of insults that were getting quite old now, he barely flinched as pain sparked through his boy from that god damned cuff on his wrist._

 _Once again his enemy spun around and aimed a hit at his legs, he managed to jump out of the way just in time, the sword nicked his ankle but he still had two feet so he counted it as a win. His opponent, however, did not._

 _"_ _What the Chaos was that? Are you incapable of rolling out of the way instead of jumping like the ridiculous pile of muck you are?"_

 _He tried rolling previously and it didn't end well; his body just wasn't built for the action, not to mention that having his legs chained together really didn't help._

 _"_ _I can't roll!" He yelled as he swirled out of the way of another jab and his neck, sweat beaded on his forehead and he absentmindedly wiped it away._

 _"_ _I don't care if you can or not, just do it!" Another attack was aimed at his ankles, this time he did try to roll away but it was sloppy and he landed in a heap on the floor._

 _"_ _What the fuck was that!" A hand grabbed the chain on his ankles and he was dragged across the floor, screaming and wriggling the entire way._

 _"_ _Get the fuck off me!" He screamed clawing at the ground, tearing his fingernails to shreds; it hurt really badly but the adrenaline kept the pain at bay as he was pinned to the ground by two large hands, one on each shoulder._

 _"_ _Stop squirming; lie still," the monster ordered, his voice leaving no room for argument. Not that he argued verbally anyway he merely grabbed each of the huge wrists in his hands and tried to dig his fingers into the leather like skin._

 _Without his nails the action was pretty much useless, the monster bared its yellow teeth at him and moved his hands down his arms until he had the young boy's arms pinned over his head and one of his knees digging into his stomach._

 _The monster's hands held both of the boys hands in one of his much larger ones and using his other hand to draw another set of shackles from who knows where, he clipped them onto the boys arms and hauled the screaming boy to the ceiling where he used his newly chained arms to hang the boy on a hook. Then he walked away without another word._

 _"_ _OI, where are you going? You can't leave me here!" the monster didn't listen or even change his posture to acknowledge he's even been heard what the boy had said._

 _Left alone with is thoughts the fight began to drain out of him until he just hung there, face flushed with anger yet slowly going pale as the blood drained from his face._

 _It was only a few moments before an idea formed in his mind, he'd seen it in a film or video game once and it had looked easy enough, but films were never very accurate and video games were far from realistic. Determination filled him as he pictured himself pulling off the move he planned._

 _He slowly swung his legs forward and then back, and repeated the action over and over again until his feet nearly reached the ceiling, he was exhausted and his ribs throbbed. They had never quite healed._

 _He almost cried out with relief when he felt the rough, rocky surface of the ceiling under his feet. It took a few attempts but he soon had his feet firmly planted on the ceiling which is where phase two of his plan came around. He pulled with his hands with all his strength, not an awful lot until the hook began to give way. A stupid grin came over his face as he pulled even harder._

 _Once he'd heard that time slows when you go through scary/traumatic events but that was a lie, everything speed up. In the space of a few milliseconds, he had managed to land on the ground with a painful thud._

 _For a moment he lay there bathing in his victory but then the vibration of footsteps brought him back to the horrors of reality, he got to his feet and ran to the corner of the room to hide._

 _Looking down at his hands he realised that the hook was still on the shackles so he flung his hands in the air and it flew off into the air then landed on the ground with a painful squeak of metal on rock. Before he knew it he was holding it in his hands like a weapon._

 _The monster strolled in but stopped when he noticed that his prisoner had managed to get away then he cursed colourfully in a language that was definitely not English. His missing prisoner silently snuck up on him with stealth that shouldn't have been possible for anyone with his injuries._

 _Without fear or restraint, the innocent child leapt on the monsters back and used the hook to slit the beings throat._ _The monster roared as the boy tore out his throat; black blood coated his entire body as his enemy vanished in a flash of golden light and a pile of purple dust._

 _Percy Jackson grinned through the blood on his face._

 _"_ _I win"_

* * *

 **HAZEL**

Frank was getting worse, quickly.

It was by far the most horrific period of waiting the demigod had ever had to go through and that was saying a lot considering she was related to Nico di Angelo who had recently gotten into the nasty habit of bringing dead corpses to life for short amounts of time, which was gross.

Hazel squeezed her boyfriend's hand again and waited for him to do the same back, a thing they'd been doing since Nyx's dramatic exit. Frank didn't squeeze her hand, however, so Hazel repeated the action to him panic rising in her as she took in his clammy forehead and half-lidded eyes.

The son of Mars met her eyes and muttered something incomprehensible before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his laboured his breath even out.

"Frank wake up!" Hazel shouted stealth be damned, shaking her boyfriend's upper body violently, she had enough sense to try to not jog his leg too much.

"Hazel what…. Oh shit," Jason exclaimed grabbing Frank's wrist and pressing two fingers to it and waited. Hazel pressed a fist to her mouth to stop herself from embarrassing herself by doing something drastic, like sobbing.

"He's breathing, he must've passed out," Jason informed her and she sighed with relief laying her head down on Frank's chest, she could feel a heartbeat. She relaxed her shoulders and a single tear trickled down her cheek.

"Hold on for a little bit longer, please Frank," She whispered before she regained her composure and straightened he spin, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her shoulder.

"We should check his leg," She said shuffling towards Frank's hastily bandaged leg. Neither Jason, Piper or she were very good medics so hazel wasn't particularly surprised when she saw that the small scrape had turned a sickly yellow colour and his leg had swollen up like a balloon.

"We are running out of time," Jason practically shouter, perhaps he hoped that the others would here and hurry up because Frank couldn't hold on much longer and the rest of them shouldn't linger in the same place for too long.

* * *

 **ANNABETH**

The Phlegethon was a lot closer than she'd expected, it was also a lot hotter than she'd anticipated. It practically radiated off the water and Annabeth began sweating the second she could see in the distance.

Thalia fell dramatically to her knees and threw her hands up into the air in celebration of their victory. Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly at her friend.

"Finally!" Leo exclaimed pulling a plastic cup out of his belt, Annabeth blinked at the item half expecting some awful pun about potatoes to be printed on the side. For a childish moment, she longed for a sharpie to draw on it with but she dismissed the thought.

Leo crouched down by the water and dipped the cup into the water then yelped and pulled his hand and the cup out of the water, blisters all over his fingers. In a stupid act to battle the heat he stuck the fingers in this mouth and yelped again, the fingers in his mouth making the sound more like an aborted snort.

He doubled over coughing and Annabeth ran over and put her hand on his back, eyes flickering over his body curiously.

"That was hot," Leo huffed stupidly. Annabeth winced and took the cup out of Leo's hands. She didn't allow herself time to doubt her decision before she stuck the cup in the water and then ripped her hand out again.

"Here," she told Thalia handing her the cup before she flailed her hand in the air until it cooled down, which it didn't.

"Hello little children, you are very far from home aren't you?" Annabeth whipped around and was met face to face with a seven-foot man with golden hair and eyes complete with a weird glow. She would've thought he was Apollo if it wasn't for his evil smirk and, more noticeably, the wicked black scar across his neck.

"Let's play a game shall we?" He asked like a man-sized child. Annabeth shook her head and folded her hands across her chest.

"How about we don't," She suggested, the man's face darkened then the smirk returned.

"Is that how you treat an old friend?" He wondered. Annabeth bared her teeth at him, momentarily stuck in the old memory of their first meeting and its disastrous outcome.

"After what you've done, yes it is" Annabeth snarled. Thalia raised her hand and then pointed to the man and mouthed 'what?'

"Guy meet Hyperion, Hyperion meet your demise," Then she tackled him to the ground.

He was ready for that though and she cried out when she felt something sharp enter her side.

* * *

 **A.N. That was a weird chapter, a bit too broken up but it was necessary for the POV in italics, I'm sure you've figured out who it is by now. the reason behind that POV will be explained in a few more chapters so be patient.**

 **Thank you all for your continued support, you're all amazing and I'm so glad that so many of you read what I write.**

 **Please tell me what you think of this chapter and also whether you want Frank to survive or not, I'm leaning towards yes but his death could spead up the plot I have planned. I don't know please tell me what you think.**


	19. Chapter 19 - Anger and Pain

**Hello everyone, happy advent!**

 **Shout outs:**

 **Guest: I'm sorry to hear that, the story in italics was a flashback to Raider's/Percy's past.**

 **: Thank you, Frank thanks you also**

 **Aviendha Aviendha Aviendha: I was never a huge fan of Frank but I do think he was unappreciated by some people. I will update, chill.**

 **DemigodSassReaders: Frank says thanks. Thank you.**

 **heya: That was what I was thinking but the vote meant Frank had to live. Don't be sorry, sometimes the death of a friend makes you see what was right in front of you. The others could've seen what the Gods really were.**

 **I've found the perfect song lyrics for Raider:** _ ***I cant walk on the edge of the right because I'm wrong***_

 **This song is in a beloved trailer, i don't own it or anything like that, It belongs to Naughty Dog.**

* * *

 **ANNABETH**

* * *

The best thing about getting injured was probably the priceless 'oh shit' look that always appeared on people's faces. It was so comical, it made the faff of getting stabbed almost worth it; almost. Because although the expression was amazing the pain was strong enough to make it significantly less cool, Annabeth wasn't that appreciative about getting a knife in her side.

Pain strikes like lightning and lingers like thunder. As soon as it hits you it becomes nearly impossible to remember what it felt like to feel anything but pain, she tried to think back but all she could think was pain, pain and pain. With a grunt she fell to the ground clutching at the wound, even though it hurt more to do so she knew that, considering they were right next to a healing river, she was at a higher risk of bleeding out than dying of infection or pain/shock.

She'd seen people go into shock before, it usually happened after their first injury and she was well aware how hard it was to pull them out again- it was like waking someone up from a coma. It was eerily similar to the effort it took to wake Thalia up in the morning, thought she did try to avoid waking the Daughter of Zeus.

Thalia, where was she?

"T-t-Thals," she stuttered cracking an eye open and trying to catch sight of her friend through to coloured specks that obscured her vision. It the end it was way too much effort so Annabeth shut her eyes again.

"Annabeth, are you ok?" Thalia called back her voice high pitched with worry or panic.

"Not really, I'm pretty sure I'm the exact opposite of ok," Annabeth informed her screaming slightly as another wave of agony hit. She heard a crash of metal on metal the sound echoed around the cavern and the Phlegethon hissed in the distance.

"Just hold on, please," Thalia pleaded with a grunt, Annabeth wished she could see what was going on but the pain was slowly suffocating her and, surprisingly, she was more concerned with that than whatever it was the others were doing. Maybe they were fighting Hyperion; the daughter of Athena didn't like their chances against the Titan.

"Holding on," Annabeth confirmed trying to relax her body but her legs were shaking so bad it felt like she was having some sort of seizure, she was sure that she wasn't but her mind was buzzing with the possibility. What if the blade was poisoned? Annabeth didn't think it was - she would probably be dead already if it had been.

"Water, I need the water," Annabeth snapped holding one of her hands out to the side to emphasise her need. Leo and Nico began talking but the ringing in her ears kept her in the dark. She waited for a few seconds yet no water came to her, how rude. Annabeth huffed and let her head loll in the general direction of the others ready to give them a lashing from her tongue. 'Of all the times to be slow' she sighed internally.

She opened a single eye lid and panic tore through her as fast and as brutally as the pain had, it filled her veins and trickled to her heart making it solidify in her chest, from red and warm to black and cold in a manner of seconds. Hyperion had grown to ten feet tall and was effortlessly shoving the Demigods back towards the river. Shoving them away like they were a small inconveniences that needed to be hidden under the rug until someone else dealt with it.

Annabeth was filled with anger and hatred, determination fell over her in a pretty veil but she wasn't strong enough to get to her feet. It wasn't like in the book or the movies; pain doesn't go away no matter how strong you are, after a while you can't just stand and save the day despite having fatal injuries. You get hurt and you fight or die; more times than not people forget that you have to battle the pain not the being that caused it.

Thalia was screaming something at her, incomprehensible nonsense to her ears but also a beautiful melody that would be the last words she'd ever hear.

She rolled her head to look at Hyperion's face as the Titan towered over her with a smug smile on his face that Annabeth she could rip apart cell by cell. Time slowed and everything came back into focus, the whisper of the river, the cackle of the dark and the scream of the light all rang in her head.

A few things happened at once: the river stuttered to a stop as it rose to form a landing pad. A figure leapt out of the shadows riding them as if they were mere paths, a glow surrounded the figure that was too God like to be anything but something holy. The figure raised a glowing rod over their head and flipped in the air slashing straight through the Titan who disintegrated with a furious roar loud enough for the entire world to hear. Their savour followed through with their acrobatics landing on the frozen river with a familiar smirk stamped on their face.

"Hello Raider," Annabeth mumbled before passing out felling all the anger vanish into pride. Take that you bastard, she thought as she let go.

* * *

 **NICO**

* * *

The boy was the master of dramatic entrances and the girl was the queen of dramatic exits. Thalia sprinted towards the bleeding girl with a half scream and half growl. Nico stared at Percy with wonder and a tad of contempt. 'So now he shows up,' Nico thought bitterly sheathing his sword and glaring at the boy. Percy dimmed as the light around him faded rubbing his hands together and whipping them on his clothes.

"Hello," Percy called back clearly unaware to the fact Annabeth was lost to the world. Nico let his gaze scan Percy's form looking for any sigh of injury. Expect for a cut across his cheek the boy seemed fine, so Nico went up to him and punched him in the face.

Correction: he tried to go up to him and punch him in the face but ended up being pinned to the ground his fist pressed against his spine.

"What was that for?" Percy asked his voice smug. Nico was beginning to think longingly of jumping in the river.

"You're an asshole you know that," Nico snapped trying to shove Percy off him, failing miserably.

"Huh? I thought an asshole was…" Percy trailed of and Nico mentally slapped himself.

"Never mind, just get off me," Nico huffed clambering to his feet once the boy got off him. Nico spun around to face Percy not stupid enough to try to hit him again but dearly wishing that he could.

"Annabeth's hurt," Thalia called out. Percy blinked them cast his gaze towards the tunnel behind them with a longing look on his face.

"What happened, was it Hyperion?" Percy wondered running a hand through his dust covered hair.

"Yes, he stabbed her," Thalia replied sounding very peeved off, so Nico wasn't the only one then.

"Oh, that's unfortunate," Percy deadpanned rolling his shoulder and cracking his knuckles. Leo ran to the daughter of Athena holding the water from the Phlegethon in one hand.

"Try to be a little bit more sympathetic," Nico advised feeling slightly hypocritical.

"I don't know what that is," Percy mused jumping up and down on the spot. Just how ADHD was the kid exactly? Nico stared at the boy's shining eyes and dismissed his comment as a joke; he hoped it was just joke.

"She's dying," Nico reminded him wishing someone else was the one who had to explain how to be kind – it really wasn't his forte.

"Yeah but you can't really die down here," Percy pointed out.

"What?!" Nico exclaimed whipping his head around to stare at Annabeth's passed out form ludicrously.

"You just come back again and again, obviously. You can't die in a place where the dead are sent, that would be pointless." Percy told him slowly, "Wait, does that happen where you are from?" Percy asked his eyes too big for his face as he stared at Nico with amazement.

"No if you die then you're dead," Nico informed him trying not to think of Bianca but failing miserably.

"Wow, that sounds awful," Percy nodded his head thoughtfully. Nico sudden wished for some of Dionysus' wine – alcohol didn't seem too bad anymore.

"Is death ever not awful?" Leo's voice called out from in front of them effectively drawing Percy's gaze away from Nico, he tried not to sulk about it.

"When it doesn't happen to you," Percy said in a dead voice, the words weren't his.

"That's a very sadistic way to see things," Leo told Percy eyes bright with anger, to his credit, Percy didn't even look fazed.

"I'm a sadistic person," Percy snapped. To Nico he muttered, "What does 'sadistic' mean?"

"How have you made it so far in life if you don't even know what simple words mean?" Nico snapped the words coming out much harsher than he intended. Percy's face closed off and behind them the Phlegethon bubbled furiously.

"Watch yourself son of Death," Percy advised but he wasn't Percy anymore he was Raider the survivor; the murderer. "Or you'll find yourself stuck between death and torture alone,"

Percy turned to jog over to Annabeth but Nico caught his arm a cloud of golden dust falling off the fabric. Nico spun the boy towards him trying to manoeuvre him to a place where the others couldn't hear them.

"Is that a threat?" Nico growled as soon as they were standing on the river bank the heat of the river burning his skin. Percy seemed almost holy in the light of the fire with a perplexed expression plastered on his face but then his smirk was back and his bared his teeth.

"Yes, it was," The boy purred eyes glowing slightly, whatever the boy was he sure as hell wasn't what everyone thought he was. "Wasn't that implied?" Nico opened his mouth to answer but Percy ploughed on. "I know that you want to see the best in me, I see it in your lonely little eyes but your attempts are a waste of your pathetic life. I am not pure and I am not good, I am death and I am danger. Remember that and we won't have any issues." Percy finished patting Nico patronizingly on the cheek before slinking back towards the others.

It was true; he wanted to believe that no matter what had happened Percy could come back into the light but maybe it was a stupid wish – the wish of a boy who wanted nothing more than a friend to talk to. Feeling younger than he had in a while Nico stalked over to the boy fists raised ever so slightly, Percy predictably knew what he was trying to.

"You aren't broken Percy, not yet," Nico called out despite the boy being only a few metres ahead of him. At the sound of his name Percy coiled up like an asp.

"Don't call me that," Percy shouted back that blue glow returning, swirling around his hands. Nico felt a sprinkle of fear but let it wash over him.

"Why? Does it hurt or are you afraid?" Nico cocked his head to the side unable to keep the bite out of his voice. "Does it remind you of the light above, of your life before you were a monster?" Nico continued straightening his spine; distantly he noticed that he was taller than the other boy, ha.

"You don't know anything about me," Percy cried hunching over like a feral dog.

"Does it remind you of your mother or your father? What about your last moments in the light?" Nico answered instead. Percy lit up like lightening and screamed.

It wasn't entirely human nor was it Godly either it was a battled cry from the depths of Hell. The cavern rumbled around them and rocks fell from the ceiling as Percy's power enveloped them. Thalia cried out something but Nico was stuck, staring at the magnificent show of power he was witnessing. It was so much more interesting than the diving form of a God – there was no restraint, no mercy and not an inch of love in the light.

"You're a Demigod aren't you?" Annabeth whispered as she leant heavily against Thalia, pale as a sheet. The light continued to shine even as Percy seemed to return to his sense.

"I don't know nor do I care," Percy muttered sounding so young, too young.

"I think you are, or a Demi titan," Annabeth mused trying to catch the boy's eyes but Percy merely stared at Nico with pure loathing. Nico would be lying if he said it didn't hurt.

"Demigod," Percy agreed nodding to himself as he ran a hand along his wrist a distant expression on his face.

"How can you be sure?" Annabeth asked taking a tentative step forward.

"They used to talk about me, the other monsters; they spoke about the irony of me being in the place the Gods feared. They used to say that it was only fitting for a child of the Gods to be the one to bring Olympus to the ground. It wasn't until a few hours ago I realised it was me they were speaking about. They were using me the entire time," Percy clenched his jaw his beautiful eyes shining.

"I'm sorry," Nico whispered slouching were he stood and rubbing his eyes mentally murdering himself over and over again.

"Me too, but the past is the past," Percy nodded jumping as a large piece of ceiling slammed into the ground next to him, Nico sighed in relief as Percy smiled at him lopsidedly.

"Agreed, come on – we should hurry," Annabeth grimaced shifting from foot to foot. Percy lit up, metaphorically this time, and turned to look at the group.

"I found something, follow me," the boy hopped slightly then legged it, Leo held up a phial of water before running after him, Nico followed with Thalia and Annabeth behind him. "Ta da!" Percy exclaimed doing weird jazz hands as he crouched on a car roof. Yes, a car.

"Does it work?" Leo asked hopeful, Percy beamed as he nodded vigorously not even a flash of anger on his face. The boy was very bipolar, Nico decided.

Percy yanked the door open and beckoned for the others to follow, which they did. It was a 4 by 4 land rover, Percy sat in the driver's seat and slammed his foot down on the acceleration peddle. It took approximately half a second for Nico to realise Percy didn't know how to drive. By then they were already shooting down a tunnel the car bouncing down the paths whilst Percy hollered ecstatically.

Leo, who was in the seat next to Percy, joined in with a bright grin on his face even as he held onto the safety bar with a death grip.

"Woooooaaaaahhhhh!" The two of the yelled as Percy violently wrenched the car to the left. Ahead of them a hellhound stared at them with horror, mercilessly, Percy ran the thing over laughing as he did. It was the laugh of someone who had taken a couple too many steps past the wiggle line but still Nico didn't feel anything but joy, so he joined in as the car gave out a furious roar.

"This is awesome!" Thalia called out opening a widow, the glass shattering into pieced the second she pressed to button. It shouldn't have been funny but it was. They laughed some more.

They only drove for a few minutes before they made it back to where they left Frank and the others. The car burst into the chamber the tires getting shredded as Percy shoved his foot down on the break. Now, the biggest issue with the car was that it didn't have any seatbelts- the car came to a sudden stop and both Percy and Leo flew out of the broken screen the two of them landed on the ground still cackling like hyenas.

"What the heck?" Jason cried sprinting over to them. Nico clambered out of the car, his legs like jelly as he fell to his knees next to Percy.

"You are a terrible driver," Nico informed him whipping the tears of him face as he tried to regain his breath.

"I'm not that bad," Percy defended. The car blew up. Percy and Nico descended into another fit of laughter.

"Yes you are, the car agrees," Leo chuckled getting to his feet. Thankfully, neither of the two looked too badly injured: only a few cuts and scrapes.

"Best car journey ever," Thalia whooped running over to them her clothes coated with ash. Percy suddenly frowned and rolled over to look at the car, or what was left of it.

"I didn't get any insurance," He whispered slapping himself on the forehead. Jason let out a startled laugh; Nico was honestly surprised Percy knew what insurance was.

"Hey, Raider," Annabeth called, jogging over. Jason gasped at her blood stained shirt but didn't ask – sometimes it was best not to.

"Yes, Wise-Girl," Percy chirped rolling to his feet swaying to the side; Nico grabbed his shoulders to stable the drunk-like boy.

"Have you ever driven before?" She asked folding her hands over her chest in an obviously attempt to look stern the grin on her face ruined the effect slightly.

"Uh… no" Percy admitted staring at the car remains, "Hey, do you think you can fix it?" The boy asked Leo clasping his hands together.

"It's a pile of ash," Leo pointed out, Percy's eyes grew wider "No can do kiddo," Leo patted him on the shoulder, Percy looked offended.

"I'm not 'kiddo' we're practically the same age," Percy blinked frowning and standing on his tiptoes.

"OK, one you are a lot younger than me mentally," Leo told him his gaze flicking to the car remains, Nico shrugged in agreement. "Two, you are really short," Percy slapped Leo on the arm very hard, Leo cried and grabbed the limb glaring at Percy with fear and a small amount of humour.

"I'm not that short," Percy folding his hands over his chest jerking his chin out like an impertinent child. Jason stepped closer to the boy; the son of Jupiter towered over Percy making the latter look tiny.

"Kiddo, you are really tiny," Jason grinned. Percy pouted adorably, honestly, how was the 'Raider of Tartarus' so damn childish. Was it an act? Nico didn't think so, nobody was that….you know… weird.

"Oh…Legolas is hurt!" Percy exclaimed suddenly shoving past Jason and moving towards the son of Mars.

"'Legolas' really?" Jason asked cocking his head to the side his eyes crinkling in amusement.

"He's a special little flower," Thalia said loudly.

"I'm not 'little'!" Percy cried again, Nico cracked up. Frank looked awful, Nico felt immensely guilty as he wondered over. How long had they been pratting about while Frank had been suffering.

"Don't feel bad – the water needed time to cool," Percy soothed, Nico relaxed slightly but still felt the ache of guilt tug at his heart strings. Percy dropped the water onto his palms not even wincing at the heat before he put both hands on Frank's legs shooting Hazel a reassuring smile. Light flittered through his fingers and Frank's entire being relaxed a lazy smile falling over his face.

Hazel let out a relieved snort, but like all good things, the darkness came again.

"Wow, you are losing your touch Raider; I've been here since you arrived and you didn't even notice me," A voice purred from the shadows, strangely similar to Percy's own confident drawl.

"Oh I knew you were there I just couldn't be bothered to acknowledge your presence," Percy dismissed the voice hummed around them, Jason cast his gaze around them but no one was there, Nico put a casual hand on the pommel of his blade.

"You're becoming lazy," The voice noted sounding intrigued.

"I'm not lazy, I'm just not motivated to do anything at this particular moment," Percy corrected meeting Nico's gaze with a Can-You-Believe-This-Guy look, Nico blanched at him.

"If you say so, you know I think you need another lesson on stealth," the voice pointed out, Percy looked horrified as a crunch echoed around them.

"Hey, leave my baby out of this," Percy snapped standing up and moving to stand over the car remains protectively.

"What's its name," Leo called out grinning impishly.

"I call it Carl," Percy smirked, Nico groaned at the joke.

"I thought you were done with puns," The voice groaned and Nico could've sworn there was a crack of fondness in its tone.

"Indeed, I should be punished," Percy purred to the voice looking so at ease Nico felt himself relax along with the stranger.

"Oh dear, I fear that you need a shrink," The voice sighed, Percy visible perked up at the word.

"See, I'm not short – I need to 'shrink'," Percy exclaimed with delight. The voice let out a startled laugh and Nico snickered along with it.

"Aww you're too innocent," Piper cooed tucking her hair behind her ears, Nico nodded in agreement.

"If I'm innocent then what is nocent?" Percy asked putting his fist under his chin thoughtfully. "Do you know what it is?" He asked the shadows, a figure emerged from the shadows. It was a man about Jason's height with shoulder long dark hair and golden eyes.

"Kronos," Annabeth growled "So the rumours are true,"

"There are rumours about me? Oh I'm flattered," Kronos grinned pausing his advance to kick a piece of Percy's 'baby'.

"What are they about?" Percy asked smiling at Kronos, "You're poor looks or your poor choice in friends?" He swiped some more golden dust out of his hair to prove his point. Kronos cursed under his breath.

Percy shot Nico a look, one that said 'run' Nico tried to keep his face a mask of innocence but it was a lot harder than it looked.

"Again, really Raider?" Kronos huffed, his entire form beginning to glow with power a wicked sword appearing in his hands – the sword that was used to hack Uranus to pieces. Nico gulped audibly.

"Once a killer always a killer," Percy snarled the happy expression flowing off his face like dusk. Then the boy – the demigod – grabbed a phial of water from his pocket and smashed it in his palm. He drew an arc of fire in the air by merely swiping a hand through it. Nico drew his sword and got into a fighting stance.

"Run," Percy shouted at the others his voice laced with power, no one moved. Percy had saved them numerous times; it was only fair they returned the favour.

"What are you doing?" Kronos hissed at Percy. Their guide hummed a small tune and Kronos snarled.

"Being a rebellious teenager," Percy quipped back.

Without a sound of pain of regret Percy lit the world on fire.

* * *

 **PERCY/RAIDER**

* * *

The fire hardly hurt the titan in fact Kronos simply sighed in response, Percy wasn't that surprised but he was slightly disappointed.

The others had lingered to help the fight, idiots. Now Percy had no choice but to attempt to hold his own against the King of the Titans, before he was planning to use the fire to blind the Titan before running, like the wuss he was.

He didn't stand a chance, none of them did. So Percy took desperate measures: he grabbed all the phials of water he had, a couple from each river, and smashed them all the on the ground.

The screams of the water echoed in his heart as he grabbed Nico by the arm and dragged him towards one of his dens. Thankfully, the others snapped out of their daze and ran after them.

"This isn't over," Kronos called out, the smoke of the water making it impossible for the Titan to see them, somehow this time escaping wasn't enough not after what he saw when he fell in the river. With a snarl on his face and a spring in his step, Percy spun around and raised his hands in the air, the water following his command obediently.

Percy pulled the water towards his body, spun around once and then threw his arms out towards his leader. The water became jagged spears that pieced the Titan's body.

"Percy Jackson, I thought you were gone," Kronos cried at him glowing gold as his divine form began to break free.

"You were a fool then," Nico snapped next to him, Percy stared at the son of Hades in surprise but Nico didn't seem to notice or care.

"I can't die, my lord," Percy informed the ruler of Tartarus then smiled, "I'll see you later, right?" Percy asked him, Kronos let out a wicked growl.

"I will meet you again, grandson," Kronos promised before Nico tackled him to the ground and Kronos erupted into his divine form.

The titan didn't attack or anything even remotely interesting, he just left. His last words rang out in his head 'grandson' he was a demigod. He could be the son of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera or Demeter. How weird, it was very strange and kind of scary. Actually, a lot scary, Percy thought.

"Poseidon," Annabeth breathed staring at him with wonder. Nico gripped his forearm tightly, Percy didn't have the energy to be uncomfortable - he wasn't a huge physical contact fan.

"I… I didn't," Percy tried to explain but his mind was spinning too fast to get the words out, he felt sick but he didn't want to vomit, he was tired but he didn't want to go to sleep. Confusion filled him mind like a jug of water. Jason grabbed his shoulder as he hyperventilated slightly.

The confusion left and anger followed.

* * *

 **Dun Dun Duuuuuunnnnnn**

 **Ha sorry, I'm in a very weird mood so prepare yourselves for the worst. OMG, I told myself I wasn't going to write anymore than 3k words and I wrote 4k... in one sitting. I think I have a problem.**

 **That was too fun to write, I love insane Percy – he's so much fun to write. He's so naïve it's hilarious XD**

 **OK just to clarify: Percy is mentally troubled but he is still brutal and monstrous, I'm not trying to make him a happy, carefree person he's just not broken because he doesn't remember what it was like to be fixed.**

 **I have re-written chapter one so you can take a look if you want, I don't mind. Please tell me if you think anything was wrong with this chapter or tell me if you like it, again, I don't mind. Hey, is there too much humour? I just wanted a happy chapter before the inevitable shit storm.**

 **And Kronos may have seemed weak in this chapter but it was because he was watching his enemies to see what they were like before he will tear them apart. He will be a badass soon, I can't wait.**

 **OMG: I was flicking through my writing playlist and ended up finding the best thing in existence - The Last of Us 2 trailer has been released! This is not a drill *passes out***


	20. Chapter 20 - Should I stay?

**Hello friends and welcome to Raider of Tartarus! Ah, I feel like it's been ages, it hasn't has it? Ok, this chapter is a tiny bit shorter than the rest but I have been writing all day for three days to get chapters up for all of my on going stories and i'm also editing previous chapters so please don't get too mad at me.**

 **Shout outs:**

 **PraetorFable: Aww thanks! I'm excited too!**

 **Aviendha Aviendha Aviendha: Thanks so much. I'll try my best!**

* * *

 **Jason**

* * *

"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked Percy yet again. "You told us that the doors were the other way." Annabeth's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as she peered at Percy's blank face.

It wasn't a huge surprise to anyone that he didn't answer; he hadn't said a word since Kronos' departure. The look on his face would've been concerning to some, that look of glorious emptiness, but to Jason it was all too familiar. He could remember seeing that look on his mother's face all the time. He had seen it on Thalia's, Nico's and Leo's as well. It was a look of rejected fear.

"So you're a son of Poseidon then?" Leo questioned successfully filling the relaxed awkward silence with tense awkward silence. Very helpful, Jason sighed internally.

"It would appear that way," Jason answered for the boy, for his cousin.

"Huh, you know, you actually look like him," Leo continued oblivious to the slowly rising of Percy's shoulders.

"Yeah, you have his eyes and his hair. Well I think you do anyhow, it's hard to tell through all the muck and grime," Nico visibly winced as he spoke. Jason snorted at the poor choice of words.

"I don't know what I look like," Percy muttered, Jason jumped slightly at the bitterness in those few words.

"Oh, I guess you have mirrors down here do you?" Jason mused. Percy sent him a sideways glare that had him regretting opening his mouth.

"No I don't have a mirror; I can hardly remember what a mirror is." Percy snapped speed walking ahead of the group. They all picked up the pace slightly to follow behind the boy but they didn't try to catch up with him.

"You never answered my question," Annabeth pointed out scowling at the back of Percy's head. There was a hatred shining in her eyes that Jason had never seen before, it scared him a little bit, in all honesty.

"No I didn't," Percy agreed. Annabeth straightened her spine and opened her mouth, no doubt ready to give their guide a firm tongue lashing, so Jason touched her arm lightly and shook his head. He had no doubt that, given the right reason, Percy would leave them without a flicker of regret.

Silence stretched over the group once again yet Tartarus never seemed silent; in the distance Jason was fairly sure he could hear something, or someone, screaming.

"Do you ever think of going back?" Nico asked Percy a wary look on his face that had Jason throwing his guard up.

"What do you mean?" Percy stopped walking and slowly pivoted on his heel to face the son of Hades with an almost adorable baffled expression on his face.

"I mean, you know where the doors are and I gather that you are aware that they are open," Percy gave a jerked nod, "You why don't you get out of here?" Nico questioned. Percy face twisted into something utterly perplexed.

"I didn't really think about it." Percy answered playing with a strand of his dark hair. "I just got so used to being down here I forgot that there was anywhere else to go," Percy finished. Jason tried to not show the pain he was feeling. How could someone get so used to the dark that they couldn't remember the light.

"Hypothetically, would you go back?" Piper asked quietly.

"I don't know," Percy replied simply. Jason felt a flicker of annoyance at the vagueness of the answer.

"This might be your only shot; we might be your only shot," Thalia pointed out taking a step closer to Percy a kind smile on her face. "We could get you out of here," she continued. A fusion of delight and fear fell over Percy's face and he didn't say anything in response, he probably didn't know what to say.

"No," Annabeth snapped. Jason flinched slightly at the hatred in her voice.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Nico growled dangerously.

"I mean that we are not taking this…boy out of Tartarus," Annabeth elaborated not even looking at Nico as she spoke. The daughter of Athena didn't take her eyes of Percy, as if he would put a knife through her eyes the second she looked away.

"Why the hell not?" Nico demanded eyes flashing. The boy took a step towards Annabeth his hand resting on the hilt of his black blade.

"Because he's dangerous," Annabeth replied simply. Jason risked a glance at Percy he was prepared to stare at a face etched with fury yet he didn't see one, rather Percy's face was cocked to the side curiously as if he didn't know that they were talking about him.

"Are you sure that's why?" Percy drawled his kindness and wonder gone replaced with confidence that rivalled the gods'.

"Of course I'm sure," Annabeth shouted but her voice didn't hold the same certainty it had before.

"Ah, I remember now. A boy came down here not long ago, what was his name again? Lucas? No, um… Lucille?" Percy eyes scrunched with concentration as Annabeth's face paled.

"His name was Luke," Thalia told him helpfully. Jason drew a blank at the name for approximately five seconds then…no way.

"Oh yes, Luke Castellan, wasn't it?" Thalia and Annabeth both nodded. "He was a strange lad; he was way too pure to be down here. What happened to him?"

"Like you don't know," Annabeth snapped a very pissed off expression on her face.

"I don't know, hence the reason I am asking," Percy nodded. Jason tried to meet Thalia's eyes but his sister was watching Percy.

"You killed him," Thalia whispered, horrified. Percy recoiled back looking borderline disgusted.

"What? I don't think I did. He exchanged twenty drachmas for directions and I gave then to him. I'm not sure why now; what could I possibly buy down here? Anyway, that was the last time I saw him." Percy gave a dismissive shrug. "He must've gotten caught, what a pity." His tone suggested it was anything but a 'pity'.

"The gods said…" Annabeth trailed off still looking suspicious; she didn't believe him.

"Oh, obviously you should trust them; they're very trust worthy down after all," Percy gave out a slightly manic laugh that had the whole group taking a wary step back.

"They haven't done anything to lose our trust," Annabeth defended. Jason actually laughed at that along with a few other group members.

"Excuse me, Annie, but they killed me," Thalia sniffed offended. Jason shuddered at the reminder.

"Zeus killed my mom," Nico spat.

"They sent me to Tartarus," Percy nodded not giving either Thalia or Nico a look of sympathy, unlike the rest of the group.

"They what?" Jason breathed staring at Percy horrified. How could the gods send a kid to Tartarus?

"You didn't think I tripped and fell in did you? I'm not that clumsy…well, I am but I didn't 'fall in'." Percy sniffed as if the mere thought was insulting, which it kind of was but Jason thought that it wouldn't have been the worst thing Percy had done.

"Who was it?" Nico demanded his hand twitching over his sword like the boy was about to go and murder the god(s) in that very moment, Jason couldn't figure out how the son of Hades planned on doing that but didn't call Nico out on it.

"I don't know; they didn't literally push me in," Percy shrugged unnaturally chill about the whole debacle.

Percy suddenly drew his dagger and flung it into the distance, Jason thought for a moment that the boy was having some sort of hissy fit. His theory was disproven when a low pitched voice gave out a yelp from the shadows. Perc stalked towards his prey yawning as he went.

"Evening," the prey greeted as if it was a regular occurrence, hey, maybe it was; Jason had no idea what was normal anymore.

"Oh, hi…Iapetus," Percy grinned jogging the rest of the way. Jason and the others followed close behind until a grey haired being came into view.

"Ok, next time I'll announce my presence," Iapetus nodded. Jason wracked his brain to try to remember how the name was so familiar.

"I'll still throw something at you," Percy pointed out still smiling brightly. Jason frowned at the dagger sprouting out of Iapetus' arm. Black liquid pooled around the wound looking a little bit like the colour of Percy's clothes, the thought made him shudder.

"True," Suddenly Annabeth drew her knife and aimed it at Iapetus' head her grey eyes bright with recognition and fear.

"You're….you're…." Annabeth muttered horror falling over her face. Jason cautiously grabbed at Gladius.

"I am what?" Iapetus asked his gaze falling to look at his body in confusion, next to him, Percy looked equally baffled.

"You're a Titan!" Annabeth exclaimed and Jason mentally slapped himself for not recognising the name sooner. Iapetus and Percy exchanged a strange look before Percy clapped slowly, his eyebrows still crinkled in confusion.

"Excuse me, you never told me this," Percy put a hand over his heart his eyes sparkling with false offense.

"I'm sorry, my friend, can you ever forgive me?" Iapetus' eyes were wide with innocence, Annabeth lowered her knife.

"No, for this betrayal of trust you shall…" Percy wrenched the dagger out of Iapetus' shoulder and the Titan fell to the group with an 'oof'. "Give me back my gun," Percy finished brightly. Iapetus sat up rapidly looking horrified, Jason couldn't blame him; Percy shouldn't be allowed near a gun unless it was absolutely necessary.

"No way, kiddo," Iapetus shook his head looking to the Nico for support, Jason wondered if the Titan knew if Nico was the son of Hades or not, it would explain the way he smiled at their emo friend.

"Why not?" Percy whined, crossing his hands over his chest and pouting, once again Jason question just how messed up Percy's head was.

"Because last time you had your gun you killed me!" Iapetus shouted glaring at Percy.

"I didn't realise that the gun was loaded, besides that was one time – give me a break." Percy snapped, Jason could've sworn that Percy's face was red underneath the mud.

"Even so; the answer is no." Percy swore under his breath. Next to him, Thalia laughed.

"Please," Percy clenched his hands together and placed them under his chin he then cocked his head to the side slightly and blinked his eyes.

"That's not going to work," Iapetus huffed patting Percy on the head before turning to the group. Behind him Percy flipped him off. "Now then, I do believe that these are the 'legendary' demigods,"

"Yes, we are," Annabeth answered staring at the Titan with pride that Jason could never match.

"You're a lot taller than I thought, well, I suppose he is just really short," the Titan gestured to Percy over his shoulder.

"OI, that's very rude" Percy scowled at the Titan's back with burning hatred. Iapetus just laughed at him with a hit of fondness in his voice that Jason didn't like.

"You are short, deal with it. So, you want to close the door I assume?" Jason opened his mouth to answer but the Titan ploughed on, "Well I wouldn't want to be in your shoes; Kronos just sent half his force to guard them. What did you do this time, Percy," The titan sighed turning back the Jason's cousin – the thought of Percy being his cousin was still really weird.

"Nothing that I haven't done a hundred times before," Percy snarled leaning against the wall. Iapetus smiled knowingly.

"Ah, you killed Hyperion again then," Percy grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I might have," He muttered. Jason rolled his eyes at the two; he couldn't believe that Percy, a demigod, was friends with Iapetus, a titan – it was bizarre.

"We're wasting time here," Annabeth pointed out sheathing her knife at her waist and spinning around to walk away.

"Oh calm down would you? Chaos, no wonder nobody likes Athena's children very much." Iapetus drawled. Percy, Nico and Thalia all gave out identical snorts whilst Leo cackled.

"Excuse me?" Annabeth growled taking a menacing step forward. Leo shut up but the titan didn't look fazed in the slightest.

"Look, you can't go to the doors now; you'll die," Iapetus didn't sound that upset at their hypothetical death. "Your best option is to go find a place to rest and formulate a battle plan," the titan advised. Jason nodded in agreement, as much as he wanted out of Tartarus he also really wanted to live until his next birthday.

"I need supplies as well, I have I hideout not far from here. We can stay there for a while," Percy nodded. Percy gave Iapetus a smile before he tried to walk away. Key word: tried, Iapetus scooped Percy up in a painful looking hug as soon as the boy tried to move. Leo laughed at Percy's pained expression as the titan released him.

"Don't be a stranger," Iapetus waved before melting in the shadows and leaving.

* * *

 **PERCY**

* * *

Iapetus was probably the only person in Tartarus who he had never attacked on purpose. Even though when he first met the titan he annoyed Percy to no end, Percy sort of liked the way the titan bantered with him…it was nice; familiar.

As Percy led the group towards one of his hideouts he couldn't help but think about leaving Tartarus and taking Iapetus with him. He knew that the titan would be overjoyed at the prospect of returning to the mortal word but on the other hand he wasn't sure what the human and half-bloods would with him; with either of them.

He was certain that the gods would try to kill them both at the first chance they had, yet he was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, his eight followers would defend him. He knew that the daughter of Athena hated his guts but the others didn't seem to mind him too much. Actually, when they first raised the suggestion of his return they all looked excited, happy even.

"What's it like up there?" the question slipped past his lips before he even registered opening his mouth.

"It's warm, and bright." Thalia whispered her voice pinched with fondness, Percy looked at the ground.

"It's beautiful. The sun comes up every day from the East illuminating the land in light and then the moon comes as the stars glistening in the dark sky," Nico mumbled. Percy tried to picture it yet it didn't feel like his image was anything like the real thing.

"The water doesn't burn you when you touch it; it's often warm but not scalding. It sparkles like a million diamonds in the light and appears dark and mysterious during the night. You can float on its surface or dive underneath," Annabeth continued all the anger gone from her voice. Percy closed his eyes and tried even harder to picture it.

"We have a camp where people like us can stay during the summer -," Percy frowned at the unfamiliar word. "-when it's the warmest outside. We train to fight, and there is a climbing wall with lava on it. I don't think anybody had ever made it right to the top before, you could be the first. At night we all gather around the camp fire and sing songs and mess around." Jason let out a wistful sigh as he finished.

"That sounds nice," Percy whispered his eyes embarrassingly wet.

"Yeah it is, so will you come back with us?" Nico asked his eyes wide with hope that had Percy swallowing thickly.

"I don't think I'd fit in up there anymore," Percy mused looking at the ceiling as if he could see all the way to the top of the world, he wished he could.

"We can help you," Nico insisted.

"I- I don't – that would be" Percy stuttered unable to even dream about being out of Hell, how would it feel to have the sum beaming down on him. He could have friends, he could have a life. No amount of words could express how much he wanted to go back.

"That would be the best thing ever," He exclaimed lamely not at all ashamed by his far from articulate response.

"Really? You would come back with us?" Nico demanded smiling brightly. Percy smiled back at him nodding rapidly. Annabeth sighed and Percy turned to face her, curious.

"I think it's a bad idea…but I have to say it would be fun to introduce you to Clarisse," Annabeth smirked. Percy had no idea who or what 'Clarisse' was but he guessed from the way the eight looked at each other it wasn't a popular being.

"I'm having him on my Capture the Flag team!" Leo shouted and the others laughed. Percy felt impossibly lost at the sudden change in attitude from the group but decided to just go with it.

They walked the rest of the way at a brisk pace chatting contently to each other. Percy felt his heart grow lighter and lighter with each step. No more death; no more Kronos, it sounded pretty awesome in his opinion.

"So, how are we going to get out," Hazel asked the group, or at least he was pretty sure her name was 'Hazel' there were a lot of demigods to remember and his poor brain couldn't handle it.

"We could wing-it." Leo suggested, Percy nodded in agreement but Annabeth clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"We can't wind-it, Leo. We need a battle plan – a strategy," She instructed her eyes shining with importance.

"But that takes all the fun out of it," Percy whined hating the idea of formulations and tactics.

"We're not trying to have fun; we are trying to survive," Percy scrunched his nose up in disapproval.

"You and I have very different priorities," he noted as he turned right down a smaller passage. They weren't that far from the hideout now.

"Clearly, anyhow we need to – where are you going?" she demanded as he slipped into a crack in the wall for once his short size was helpful.

"I'm opening the door," he informed her not even bothering to keep the irritation out of her voice.

It was quite complicated to get the door open, it involved climbing, jumping at the pulling of many levers before he got the rock shuddering in half revealing eight baffled faced. Percy snickered at their expressions.

"Welcome," he greeted bowing at them with extra elegance that he didn't really think they deserved, especially from the way they looked him like he was some sort of metal person, he didn't think that people should treat their host that way.

"This place is…nice," Nico tried but Percy snorted at his poor attempts. He knew that it was a shithole but he had to carve it out of stone in the middle of Hell; give him a break.

"Don't bother," Percy waved him off strolling to the corner to rummage through his supplies. Yes, there were a dozen or so vials of water from the rivers. That was all he needed to get the others, and hopefully himself, through the doors.

"Do you have any water?" Frank asked, again he wasn't certain the name was right. Percy raised an eyebrow and looked down at the vials in his hand and back again. "Real water," the boy clarified. Percy was once again thrown into a sea of confusion. "Water that isn't likely to cause extreme pain,"

"Oh, no I don't," Percy shrugged. Water that didn't burn, that was just weird. So if it didn't burn did that mean you couldn't use it as a weapon? Huh, that made very little sense – what was its purpose. Percy knew that you had to drink water to survive; he wasn't that thick, but he just drank water from Kronos' supply. He had no idea where that water came from and he had never dared to ask.

"Hey Percy," Nico called to him successfully cutting of his thought process. "Do you have any long distance weapons?" He asked. Percy scrunched his face up. He had some but he had no idea where he put them.

"I might do," he answered looking around the room for said weapons.

"You don't know where they are, do you?" Leo questioned grinning. Percy flushed slightly, not that anyone could see.

"I know where they are," Percy sniffed a wicked idea forming in his mind.

"Oh really? Show me then," Leo challenged. Idiot, Percy thought to himself. In a split second he drew his bow and had an arrow aimed at Leo's forehead, the boy before him gulped.

"Is this good enough?" he purred. Leo nodded rapidly, "Are you sure?" another nod. "I can demonstrate how it works if you'd like," he offered. "Hey, blonde you might want to move – you're in the splash zone," Leo closed his eyes and Percy could've sworn he heard the boy muttering 'help me' over and over under his breath. His arm began to ache from holding the position so long so he fired the arrow it flew and landed just above Leo's head, just like he had planned.

"Am I dead?" Leo practically wept, Percy rolled his eyes. These guys were way too serious for their own group, although Percy did understand that when someone aims a weapon at your forehead you don't usually laugh along with them.

"Ah, you need to chill out man. I would never kill you…well" he trailed off shooting Leo one last smile he turned away, ignoring the horrified expression on all their faces and, even worse, the 'uh oh' look on Annabeth and Piper's faces.

"We need a plan," Annabeth stated as silence stretched between them like the splitting of worlds.

"I have one," Percy dismissed pouring some water into a small, hollowed-out section of his arrow.

"Of course you do," Annabeth soothed. Percy bit his cheek until he tasted blood. "Wait…you do?" she asked sounding impossibly confused, Percy glared at his hands.

"Yes, I have a plan," he snapped letting lose all his resentment into his voice.

"What is your plan?" Nico asked him clearly not trusting Annabeth to not dig her own grave. She wouldn't have to; Percy was about dig it for her.

"I am going to kill everyone and everything that comes between me and those doors, and you can follow behind doing whatever it is you do," Percy stated simply. It was almost comical to see all their egos get punched at the same time.

"And if that doesn't work?" Annabeth questioned.

"Eh, I'll be dead so I won't have to worry about it until I come back." Percy shrugged, he wondered if he would come back like every other time he had died. He assumed he would but he had only died, like, twice so he was no expert.

"What are you going to kill all those monsters with?" Leo asked him leaning forward; he had clearly recovered from his near death experience, what a shame.

"I am going to kill them by ripping the ceiling open and drowning them in the River Lethe." Percy grinned and for once they all grinned back at him.

"The river of forgetfulness," Nico breathed sounding a little bit too excited for a person who was about to face a whole army of monsters.

"Let's give them a fight they'll remember," Percy snarled.

* * *

 **A.N: And there you have it - living proof that I cannot write in Jason's POV for the life of me. Aww, I like Jason quite a bit but I just can't get a grasp on his personality or his thought process. I'll have to practice *sighs* I hate having to practise things; it's so boring.**

 **Now, I have a couple of things to say:**

 **1) Do you want Percy to leave or not? See I have it planned one way but I have a some quite interesting ideas for it to go the other way as well so please let me know.**

 **2) If you cast your mind back a few chapters you'll see/remember that Percy had a scene with Iapetus but he was called Bob. There is a reason for this that shall be explained in either the next chapter or the one after. Don't worry about it, I have a plan!**

* * *

 **Next Time:**

 **"This is a bad idea," Nico called up to him. Percy huffed reaching further over to grab to next piece of rock.**

 **"That makes it the seventieth time you've said that. Shall we have a party to celebrate?" He shouted back down momentarily loosing his concentration and slipping slightly.**

 **"Will their be cake?" Nico asked.**

 **"What's cake?" Percy wondered aloud. Leo let out a dramatic cry and fake passed out.**

 **"Hello Perseus," A voice called out from the shadows.**

 **"Oh for the f*** sake,"**

 **(Eh, I made this up as I went but at least you have a vague idea *shrug*)**


	21. Chapter 21 - Steel Heart

**First things first: I'm so sorry that this update took so long, I really don't know how I managed to avoid writing this for so long, it must be a gift.**

 **Shout outs:**

 **BABYGATO1854: The escape chapter will be dramatic don't worry, I have an evil plan (mwuhahah)**

 **Checkingdude: Oh yeah, woops.**

 **Haiselover: I really want Percy to mess with the gods too. Thank you xxx**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: Ok, calm down. I'll see what I can do.**

 **Aviendha Aviendha Aviendha: Ha ha. Brilliant.**

 **DemiWitch75: OK, thanks.**

 **dizzydaisy37: Ooooooookkkkkkkk.**

 **Guest: I'm sorry but I don't know who that is D: I'll look it up though.**

 **thisisname42: Oh yeah, oops. I forgot what he was when wrote that chapter and didn't have the book or the internet to look it up.**

 **whatsup: now.**

 **plz: Ok, ok; I'm updating.**

 **yo: Sorry about your possible death. But I'm updating so...**

 **angrybird: I have a habit of leaving it on a cliff hanger.**

 **gg: Don't worry I will.**

 **Guest: I haven't abandoned anything.**

* * *

 **PERCY**

* * *

The fire in the middle of the cave let off little heat against the immortal cold of Tartarus. It was like putting one drop of water in the middle of a desert; pointless.

It was the thought that counted though, Percy supposed. Across from him, Leo huddled closer to the fire. The boy's eyes lit up until they blended in with the flames perfectly. Well, his efforts were appreciated then. That felt nice, he wasn't going to lie.

"Ok, as…" Annabeth struggled for the word, "creative as your plan is, we need to have more weapons and backup plans before we're even going to think about taking on the forces of a Titan." The daughter of Athena's eyes bored into his owns, waiting.

"What?" he asked when the staring got too intense.

"What do you mean 'what'? It's your plan, so execute it." She snapped, by now the other Demigods were staring at the two of them looking a bit irritated. Holy Tartarus, what was wrong with them now? Percy thought.

"Do I have to do everything around here, I mean I saved you, fed you, saved you again and I gave you badass code names; must I do even more for you when most of you left me to die a horrible, painful death?" Percy snapped, glaring at all of them, bar Nico who had stayed to help him.

"Oh yes, code names were things we really needed," Leo nodded. Percy scowled at him and under him, the stone floor shifted and groaned.

"Careful there Imp-boy," Percy warned as the fire flickered and died, except a few embers. "You never know who might be listening in…"With that and an ominous raising of his eyebrows, Percy got to his feet and walked out of the cave that he had considered one of the few safe-ish places in Tartarus and wondered back into the wolf's den.

"Where are you going?" Nico asked, Percy pivoted on his heel and watched the Son of Hades jogged to catch up with him.

"I'm going to the land of rainbows," Percy answered simply before stalking back into the shadows.

"How do you not know about cameras or Sat-Nav, but know about rainbows?" Nico asked, annoyingly Nico couldn't take a hint and continued to march after him.

Percy scanned the area around him for an escape. He could see a wall to his right but he knew from experience that it only led to a small ledge that was way too low for him to travel anywhere. To his left, there was nothing but darkness that, again, he knew led to Kronos' Keep, which was definitely a place to be avoided at all cost.  
Fine, he had to go forward.

"Look, Nico you're a nice guy but please leave me alone." Percy smiled encouragingly. Nico snorted under his breath (did he really think no one would hear him?) and Percy flipped him off over his shoulder.

"I'm not leaving you alone," Nico informed him gravely (Heh) and mockingly slowly so that Percy could absorb the information. Yet Percy was still baffled by the idea.

"Where are you guys going?" Leo shouted stealthily as he stomped his way across the echoing cavern. Leo Valdez – silent Ninja.

"I need to get something," Percy answered ominously, not even turning around. Honestly, all the talking was beginning to piss him off. Why must everything be interpreted through words? Why aren't actions enough?

"And we're coming with you," Nico nodded shoving Leo forward so the boy got the hint to walk with them.

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea; Annabeth sent me to get you to go back to the cave." Leo protested even as he marched with them.

"Well, Annabeth dearest is just going to have to wait, isn't she? Pity." Percy sighed.

Out of nowhere, Thalia seemed to materialise behind them. The daughter of Zeus announced her arrival with an "I'm coming too!"

And that was that apparently.

* * *

 **NICO**

* * *

"Okay, this is a really bad idea," Nico commented, twisting his skull ring around his finger.

"Pft, nah I'm fine, and so is everyone else," Percy exclaimed, jumping up to the next ledge.

"Um… I'm not fine," Leo slowly raised his hand and pouted. Although Percy couldn't see his face Nico got a distinct feeling that Percy knew exactly what Leo was doing.

"Aww, don't be a crybaby," Thalia huffed pinching Leo's cheek, much to the son of Hephaestus' dismay. "Come little baby don't you cry…" she sung, well 'sung' might be a bit too strong of a word for it. Croaked might've been better… or 'sounded like a hellhound in a rather large pit of candyfloss '.

Up above them, Percy swore violently as the slab of rock his was clambering on broke and he fell a metre before grabbing onto a bigger ledge.

"You alright, Lara," Leo shouted up.

"That's not my name. And yes, Imp-Boy I'm just dandy," Percy snarked back suddenly jumping to the side to get to a small sticking out piece of rock.

"Hey," Leo elbowed Thalia, "do you get it; Lara? Tomb Raider? Parkour?" Leo laughed loudly. Thalia grabbed the intruding elbow and gave the boy a shove away from her.

"No I don't get it, you wanna know why?" Leo's laughter died down and he took a wise step back, "It's because I spent the last few years as a tree!" She shouted. Nico winced and risked a glance up at Percy, who was now about six stories above them, AKA pretty damn high.

"You were a tree?" Said boy questioned, his voice clear despite their proximity or lack thereof.

"Yes, I was a tree. Have you got a problem with that?" Thalia challenged, running a hand along her spear.

"Nope, but uh… did animals like, pee on you…" Percy seemed to pick up speed out of nowhere and quickly scaled the rest of the wall.

"I don't…" Thalia trailed off, her eyes widening in horror. Leo cracked up again and Nico couldn't help but join in slightly. "Oh, gods I hope not." She shuddered.

"GOT IT!" Percy screamed down at them. The boy descended the wall an awful lot faster than how he ascended it.

"Well, are you going to tell us what we came here for now?" Thalia huffed, stalking closer to get a look at the mysterious device in Percy's hands.

It was a small cylindrical object with no defining features except for a red button on the front. Leo sucked in a breath.

"A bomb, why would we need a bomb," Leo said slowly. Percy clicked his tongue and tucked to object into his backpack.

"It's not a bomb, per se. But it'll bring Kronos' Keep down and buy us time," his voice turned tight "hopefully,"

"'Hopefully' oh great and to think I was worried the odds weren't in our favour and that we were all going to die horrible deaths," Leo muttered burying his hands in his jeans.

"If the odds were in our favour then we wouldn't be doing anything," Percy snapped, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and running back into the shadows. His clothes were eerily good at camouflaging him into the shadows; Nico could hardly make him out until he had sprinted as fast as he could.

"Annabeth's going to be really mad, you know that right?" Nico asked Percy once he'd caught up with the boy.

"I know; she's always mad at me." Percy trailed off and squinted into the distance. "You know, I get the feeling she doesn't like me very much," Percy gave Nico a look that suggested that even though he sounded like he cared about her opinion of him, he really didn't.

"She's not that bad once you get to know her," Thalia added mildly. Nico wasn't sure that was true; he had known her for years and she still gave him the shivers.

"She's just… protective…" Thalia flailed her hands wildly.

"Look, I know that she and I will never get along but that doesn't change the fact that-" Percy trailed off abruptly and tackled Nico to the ground and slammed a hand over the son of Hades' mouth. Nico struggled against the restricting hold for a fraction of a second before he noticed the slope to his left, and more significantly, the hoard of monsters at the bottom of it.

Nico gave Percy a nod and the boy clambered off him and crawled on his elbows to the edge. Thalia and Leo gave Nico a startled look but joined him on the ground.

The three of them pressed themselves as close together as they could. Nico was highly uncomfortable with this but didn't want to say anything in case he got heard or worse: seen. Percy returned to their impromptu man pile and slipped his backpack off his shoulders. Without it, all his weapons practically shone in the dark. Daggers, throwing knives and arrows, you name it and he probably has it.

'Stay here' he mouthed before saluting and vanishing down the slope. Nico moved to follow him but Thalia grabbed his forearm and shook her head. The daughter of Zeus slowly edged her way closer to get a better view. Nico almost growled at the; they should help him not watch like cheerleaders, but didn't intervene.

Down near to hoard that consisted of Empousai, hellhounds, Aeternae and others that Nico couldn't even begin to name.

With no stealth what so ever, Percy marched up to one, patted it on the shoulder and punched a dagger straight throw its head. As soon as he had, the thing disappeared into golden dust and a dozen hellhounds turned and glared at the intruder.

With grace that shouldn't be possible, Percy cartwheeled into a flip onto one of their backs and buried a dagger in; once it had vanished he jumped into a forward roll between another hellhounds legs and slit of two rather important limbs.

"Holy shit," Leo muttered beside Nico, who couldn't help but agree. He had faced giants, gods and even some titans in his life but never had he seen someone fight with so much ease and passion.

Percy grabbed and arm of an Aeternae (and ugly thing with bony saw tooth bits sprouting from its head (it should consider hiring a new barber)) and snapped the bone in two, he then rolled over its back until he was on his feet and the thing was hissing on the floor, _whack_ : knife in the eye.

Things went badly remarkably quickly, an Aeternae wrapped its arms around Percy's middle, pinning his arms down, whilst an Empousa delivered a painful looking blow to the boy's cheek. And then things went ok again as Percy swung his head back straight into the Aeternae's nose before he jumped and pushed both his feet into the Empousa's chest (and no boys and girls; that's not how you're supposed to treat a woman) successfully knocking both of them off their feet. However, Percy recovered much faster as he jerked his arms over his shoulders and used his strength to throw himself back to his feet just a second after he hit the floor.

Nico was tempted to cheer, or would that be a bad idea? He wasn't sure but a grin was twitching up his face as he thought of what might happen when the boy meets Ares. Percy sprinted towards the dazed Empousa as soon as it was on its ugly feet and used its knee as a ledge to hoist his left leg around its shoulder and buried a knife in its neck before spinning the two of them back to the floor.

Half a dozen hellhounds and one Aeternae remained, each had a matching look of 'I hate you' on their faces that didn't deter Percy or his trio of supporters. "Who's next?" he demanded drawing a hunting knife of his back about the length of his thigh. The Aeternae charged at him; Percy pressed his knife to its throat and drew it to the side (you didn't need that neck, did you?).

"He has a bow," Thalia muttered as Percy continued his massacre, "Why doesn't he use it?"

"Don't you see?" Leo exclaimed quietly. At their blank looks, he elaborated, "He's happy; he loves this." Nico blinked at the son of Hephaestus slowly before turning his gaze back to Percy, he was just in time to watch him lob his knife into a hellhound's skull. He was indeed happy, it was blatantly obvious from the wicked smile on his face and even though he was quite a distance from Nico, he could see his sea green eyes gleaming with life and something far more deadly.

"I suppose," Thalia drawled. "That when one spends a lifetime killing," her voice dropped low "one learns to enjoy it," she looked straight into Nico's eyes "and crave it."

Nico swallowed thickly and watched Percy brawl with a beast ten times his size.

"You sound like Zoë when you speak like that," Leo snorted. Thalia's wise gaze turned angry in a heartbeat.

"I hate that girl," she hissed, much like George and Martha did.

"Just because she beat you in combat," Leo pointed out. "And hunting and archery-"

"Leo shut up before I make you,"

"Alright, bossy." Leo huffed.

And with one final hit, it was all over.

* * *

 **PERCY**

* * *

"Welcome back, and thanks for volunteer to go collect them Leo, and then Thalia. You two really helped a friend out." Annabeth commented, her voice void of any emotion.

"I tried." Leo threw himself to his knees and clasped his hands together. Annabeth merely raised an eyebrow at him before levelling Percy with an unimpressed look.

"You would be much happier if you stopped being so upset," Percy pointed out, which did bugger all to help him out of his predicament as Annabeth stood up and marched right up to Percy's face.

"What is your game?" She demanded.

Percy narrowed his eyes at her, "What did you mean?"

"Your plan, your goal, your motive – what is it?" She hissed grabbing a fistful of the frayed fabric that covered his chest. Percy took a deep breath and pushed his feelings aside. He ignored his panic at someone being so close to him.

"I don't have one, frankly I rarely have one until the very last moment. And guess where it got me? Here, in this dark, damp, hellhole but more importantly, it kept me alive." With a level hand, he pushed her hand away from his body and took an even step back.

"You're lying," she snarled.

"Maybe I am. I don't really know anymore. Eventually, you get so used to telling lies that the truth seems improbable, impossible even." Percy glanced at each of the people before him and sighed.

"I don't pretend to know the life you like so please do the honour of not pretending to know mine." Percy nodded his head at Annabeth, silently pleading that she would leave him alone, just like everyone else he'd met had.

She didn't.

Instead, she whipped out one of the old flintlock pistols he'd gathered and aimed it between his eyes. For half a moment, all was silent and then the world descended into chaos.

"Annabeth!" Jason jumped forward to push her down, but the wisest member of their group simply rolled back her shoulders and strengthened her grip on the gun until all the muscles in her arm stood to attention.

"Put the gun down," Piper said softly yet her words rattled in Percy's skull. Annabeth still didn't flinch.  
Nico tried to pull Percy backwards but Percy stood strong. "Ok," he whispered. "talk." And talk she did.

"You sadistic liar: you speak as if you're the good guy down here but you aren't you're nothing more than a little boy running into the flames as if you're invincible. You're human, _Raider_." She drawled the nickname mockingly. Percy bit his cheek until he tasted blood. "You don't deserve any of the luxuries that have been handed to you; you don't deserve to live in the mortal word with us. You deserve to rot down here, like all the other monsters."

"What if there aren't good guys or monsters. What if there are only beings that have different opinions. Over the years I've been called 'bad guy' by people who believe that the sun shines out of their arse. The truth is this: there aren't good or bad versions of ourselves we're all simply products of our environment and that's the gist of it." he shrugged gently. "We are what we are and you're a demigod, I'm just me." Annabeth's eyes were wide yet she didn't move her arm; his life was still in her hands.

"You killed him" she whispered.

"I've killed lots of 'hims' so you'll have to be more specific." He tried to keep his voice even but her eyes flared with anger.

"Luke Castellan, son of Hermes - my boyfriend." Percy wracked his brain for the name but it rang no bells. He was a bit offended that she had accused him of such.

"Never heard of him, sorry."

"Blond hair, sharp jaw and a scar right down his face." She described her voice tight with impatience.

"No clue, if he came down here a claimed demigod then chances are that he was killed before he even opened his eyes," Percy tried to explain but Annabeth didn't want to hear his words, to her, he assumed, his voice meant nothing.

"Zeus told me himself." Before Percy could scold her for naming the king of the Gods in Tartarus, she ploughed on. "He told me that Luke, the poor soul, had been brutally beaten to death by a sixteen-year-old boy called Percy Jackson." The room (cave?) fell silent, not that it hadn't been fairly silent before but suddenly it seemed like people were trying to keep their heartbeats silent along with their breath.

" _Zeus_ ," Percy couldn't keep the contempt out of his voice as he all but spat the name that had haunted his thoughts for a decade. "Is a lying bastard too stupid to notice his own downfall?"

"Steady on," Jason interrupted. "He's still my dad, no matter how messed up he is." Thalia nodded in agreement and that somehow made everything so much worse.

"Enough!" Annabeth snapped as if she wasn't the one responsible for everything that was currently happening. She cocked the gun and steadied her finger that rested on the trigger.

Nico suddenly appeared behind the daughter of Athena, causing the girl to flinch and pull the trigger.

 _ **BANG**_

The sound of the bullet echoing straight into the ears of his enemies was the last thing he heard before he felt arms wrap around his waist as he tumbled to the floor with a grunt.

The rest was lost in agonising pain and then nothing.

* * *

 **A.N: You love my cliff hangers, right?**

 **OK, sorry again about the long wait but things have been a bit hectic around here recently and this wasn't high on my priority list even though it should have been. This is my first time writing a fight sequence so please go easy on me, I tried to not drag on too much.**

 **Also, I have started reading from a bunch of other fandoms which has made me not think about my darling Percy as much as I should have. Do any of you read from Archives of Our own? Because I've started to and it's really fun. I wrote my first story on there for the Magnus Chase fandom if you want to check it out it's under the same user name (Lexi13930).**

 **I've also fallen in love with Hamilton so that's ruined my life XD. Anyone else a fan?**


	22. Chapter 22 - Past, Present and Future

**I'm really sorry this took so long.**

 _Italics - Percy_

Normal - Nico

 **Shout outs:**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: It's nice to meet another fan! None of my friends like it!**

 **Guest: Thank you!**

 **Percy is bae: Great name by the way. Indeed I shall**

 **Percy is bae: hello again. Sorry about the delay.**

 **Guest: Here you go :D**

* * *

 _The world around him was an abundance of blues and golds, they swirled around him in millions of hues; too many to count._

 _"Percy," a warm voice seemed to flitter through the wind. Percy turned away from the sceptical of colour to face a woman he didn't recognise. Or at least he thought he didn't._

 _She was beautiful but not as if carved from marble but like a warm fire on a winter's day; a lifeboat in a shipwreck; she was safety. Walls that he had carefully carved over the years tumbled down around him as he stared into blue eyes. Brown hair swayed in the breeze as the woman smiled at him._

 _"Mum," he whispered. Her smile widened and his lips twitched along with hers. Soft silence descended around them but it wasn't made to last._

* * *

"PERCY!" Nico screamed, voice cracking, as he leapt forward to catch Percy before he smashed into the impenetrable floor. He wasn't fast enough but Thalia, who was standing much closer to the boy, managed to grab him, her eyes shining with panic and anger.

"What the heck, Annabeth?" Hazel fumed, turning to the daughter of Athena with molten gold eyes. Annabeth didn't dignify her with a response. Instead, she stared blankly at the gun in her hand as if it were a fascinating thing she'd ever seen. Nico internally fumed, his rage gathering around him like armour, but didn't do anything with it; he had more important things to worry about.

"Is he ok?" He demanded of Thalia. A stupid question – he knew this, but a small, childish part of him was still clutching at threads of hope. Hope that the bullet had merely skimmed him, or that the boy was faking the whole thing. Some wicked trick.

"The bullet entered the left side of his abdomen," Thalia whispered, her hand pressed into said spot, blood trickled through her fingers; Nico felt sick. "There's an exit wound," she continued patting him all over with her free hand.

"Is that a good thing?" Nico asked feeling slightly foolish about his lack of knowledge that everyone else seemed to call upon with no strain. Thalia huffed.

"No." She growled. "Yes." Nico blinked at her. The daughter of Zeus slammed her head into Percy's chest. "It depends. There's a high chance of him bleeding out but without an exit wound we'd have to try to dig," she flinched noticeably, "around to get it out."

"Damn," Nico hissed, glaring over his shoulder at Annabeth who was watching him with a morbid expression.

"I did it for Luke," she insisted. Hazel slapped her, hard.

"Luke is dead, Annabeth, Percy isn't. But now you might kill him. Tell me: how is there any honour in killing Percy for Luke's sake. You have done nothing but taint his name, so…." She trailed off breathing deeply through her nose, mouth in a straight line. "Well done." She finished lamely, stalking over to them.

"We need to find Iapetus; he's the titan of pain so maybe he'll know what to do." Nico nodded at her, a small part of him beaming with pride at his sister.

"We can't all go," Frank pointed out, looking at Annabeth with zero subtlety.

"Who wants to go?" Thalia asked impatiently. Everyone, bar Annabeth, raised their hands. Even Piper, which surprised Nico, "Ok we can't all go."

"You needn't worry about that," a familiar voice drawled. In nearly perfect sync, they all jumped and faced the intruder, weapons drawn. Iapetus rolled his eyes.

* * *

 _He wanted to hug here but he didn't quite dare – what if she was an illusion? What if she vanished as soon as he touched her?_

 _"My boy," she choked out, salty tears streamed down her face. Percy tried not to flinch at the nickname, or claim, or whatever you want to call it. Kronos had used that phrase, he thought furiously, he didn't have the right to but since when did that stop him?_

 _"Mum," he repeated. He wished that he could say something else but his tongue felt too big in his mouth and he didn't quite dare say too much. He couldn't risk screwing him up._

 _A flash of lightning ripped through the air and smashed into to the few metres between them. Percy was thrown violently (is there any other way to be thrown?) off his feet and smacked into the seemingly invisible floor beneath him. Gasping in surprise he clambered unsteadily to his feet a terrifying thought flickered through his mind and he whipped his head around to face his mother._

 _Thankfully she was standing still, not at all hurt by the merciless blast. "Percy!" She shouted hoarsely. "You have to get out of her!" The wind picked up around him, a small hurricane but no less destructive. The wind was dark in colour and in a few moments had blocked out the blues and golds. Percy didn't give himself time to mourn their absence before he was charging through the darkness to reach his mother because he couldn't lose her again._

 _"MUM!" He screamed as he ran. Where is she? Where is she? Mum? Mum? Sally?_

 _A voice cackled behind his ear. Percy ignored it._

 _Hands gripped at his legs, claws scraping away the skin. Percy ignored it. He ignored it all because he just got her back after so long._

 _The darkness parted for a moment, a heartbeat, and in that time he glimpsed at her running in an obnoxiously bright yellow dress. "Come on, Percy!" She smiled brightly, barely glancing at him over her shoulder before she was running again. She was going too fast and Percy couldn't keep up, especial not when the hands began clawing at his arms._

 _"Slow down!" He shouted but she was too far away for him to catch._

 _Please don't leave me, he pleaded, please don't leave._

 _"Please help him," Thalia begged the Titan, Percy was worryingly pale in her grip, Nico noticed with a growing sense of horror. And the rise and his fall of his chest had somehow gone from rising waves to simple ripples. They were running out of time._

 _"I'll try," the titan said, nodding, "but I can't promise anything." With the Iapetus knelt down next to their fallen companion, placing a hand on his forehead. Instantly his face became tight with concern._

 _"What is it?" Jason demanded as he stepped closer._

 _"He has a high fever; the wound is already infected," Iapetus explained sounding as if he was stunned that they hadn't realised this before. Well, Nico supposed, you'd think they would've brought someone with medical training with them._

 _"How can that be?" Thalia demanded. "He only got shot a few minutes ago, if that." Jason placed a warning hand on his sister's shoulder, the action seemed pointless to Nico but Thalia relaxed under his grip and took a deep breath._

 _"Where did you find the gun?" The Titan asked instead of explaining. No one answered at first. Until Leo tossed the gun to the ground, having snatched it off Annabeth, "oh," Iapetus sighed._

 _"I've never seen bullets like it," Leo admitted. Nico stared at the gun intently. It looked regular to him, but then again he wasn't all that familiar with guns._

 _"That's because it isn't from your world, or ours really." He explained cryptically. "Percy is the only one who knows where they came from,"_

 _"How do you know?" Leo asked with significantly less bite than Thalia had._

 _"Because he made them, son of Hephaestus, and he made them with a hidden ingredient that no one, beside him, had the ability to harvest."_

 _"Water," Jason gasped, Nico snapped his head up to the son of Jupiter._

 _"Indeed," the titan confirmed, without any warning, he slipped a hand under Percy's knees and behind his back and hoisted the smaller boy into his arms._

 _"What are you doing?" Thalia snapped at him, rising to her feet._

 _"I can't heal him but I know someone else who might be able to."_

 _"Who?" Nico asked._

 _"An old friend."_

 _"Where are you going?" He snapped across to his mother, his elated mode quickly diminishing into annoyance. Still, he kept running._

 _"We're going to the cliff, Percy," Sally shouted back to him, her hair bouncing in the air as she jogged. Even at her slower speed, Percy struggled to keep up._  
 _The hands were becoming more desperate than before. Now they were wrapping themselves around his waist and pulling him to the ground over and over and over again. Every time Percy fell, and every time he stood right back up again._

 _What cliff? He wanted to ask but didn't have the chance to before a hand clamped down over his mouth. Without thinking, Percy buried his teeth deep into the hand that felt like mist but became more solid as he fought._

 _Black tar filled his mouth, Percy choked slightly and as soon as the hand was gone, he spat on the ground. Yet it did nothing to stop the foul stuff slipping down his throat, he was drowning in it._

 _"Mum," he tried but all that came out was a strangled sound. Calm down, he told himself firmly, which was nice and all but it really didn't do an awful lot._  
 _He fell again, this time he lay there with his cheek pressed uncomfortable to the ground beneath him. He curled up as if he was a child. Coughing and retching he waited for help to come._

 _"Get up." A voice said, deep and unfamiliar. Percy shook his head, burrowing deeper into himself._

 _"I can't," he whispered, eyes drifting shut._

 _"Get up." The same voice; the same tone. Again he shook his head again but didn't move his body._

 _"Why not?" the voice insisted with a touch of curiosity, only a small amount but it was definitely there._

 _"Because," Percy drawled, annoyed, "I'm sick of getting up only to fall back down again."_

 _"It happens to everyone." The voice reasoned. Percy scoffed. "You're amused, why?"_

 _"Because," he repeated in the same voice. "Everyone falls but few fall as far as me."_

 _"Can you tell me why?" the voice drew closer and he hears the rustling of fabric. Percy didn't dare move, nor did he open his eyes._

 _"I don't know." He admitted. The voice hummed deeply, against his will his body relaxed._

 _"Would you like to hear my thoughts?" the voice asked. Percy snorted quietly._

 _"No really but I guess you're going to share them anyway," for a moment there was no response and Percy wondered if he was alone but then a laugh echoed around him._

 _"You guessed correctly," another short laugh. "I think that the reason you fall so much is because you have so much to fall for." A wave of anger hit Percy in the heart and he leapt to his feet, his back to the stranger._

* * *

"Where does your friend live?" Nico asked for what must have been the millionth time that minute. Iapetus let out an unnecessarily loud sigh and adjusted Percy in his grip. Nico watched with wary eyes, as much as he wanted to trust the titan he couldn't.

"In a swamp," the Titan answered shortly, just like he had the last time Nico had asked him and the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that….

"There are swamps in Tartarus?" Leo exclaimed. Nico started at the boy's sudden appearance.

"Yes," Iapetus growled. Oblivious to the titan's anger, Leo brightened.

"Do Ogres live there? I've always wanted to meet one." Leo gasped loudly. "Do you think one of them will be ok with me taking a photo?" Iapetus glared at him with overflowing fury. Leo didn't seem to notice at first but Thalia gave him a pointed look.

"Can you give us a clue as to exactly who we're meeting?" Annabeth snapped instantly she was on the receiving end of Nico's famous death stare. To his utter annoyance, she seemed hardly fazed, in fact, she looked slightly pleased.

"Let's get a couple of things clear, alright?" Iapetus declared and, with surprising grace, pivoting on his heel and facing their group with an expression that promised there would be no compromise. "Number one: you," he stared at them all, his gaze lingering on Annabeth a tad longer than the rest of them, "shot my friend after he was nothing but kind to you so we are not allies and we are not friends.

"Number two: 'we' aren't going to meet anyone. I'm taking Raider to get healed and you are following me like a family of ducklings. You will wait outside, is that clear?" He snarled.

Before Nico could formulate a response a rumble echoed through the damp tunnel they were in. Iapetus cursed loudly and ran. Without hesitating, they all rushed after him.

"What's going on?" Thalia asked as they ran.

"Kronos," the Titan informed them simply. Nico's eyes widened and he tried to push him to move faster but he was already winded.

"What does he want?" Nico puffed out. For a minute or so the titan said nothing but then a single sentence came out.

"What he's always wanted." Nico felt a stab of hatred towards the Titan, actually adults in general. It seemed that once someone hits thirty they decided to annoy as many people as they can by being as cryptic as an Egyptian Pyramid. It did dawn on him a moment later; Percy. Kronos wanted his weapon back, and now that Percy was injured there was little chance of the boy fighting back, which was strange to think about because as long as Nico had known him (which wasn't really that long if you think about it) Percy had never stopped fighting. Now he was so still, so helpless and so damn young.

It was like they had walked through a veil: the world around them seemed to lose its blatant darkness in return for murkiness. Nico was aware that the two things were pretty similar but different in many ways. Imagine this: a forest in the dead of autumn, when all the leaves were dead on the ground and always cracked under your feet, you can feel the emptiness around you but you could also hear life around you.

Then imagine: a rainforest, bustling with life but you couldn't see any of it through the humid air around you. Less silent but more empty almost. Weird? Yeah but that was how it was.

A small hut stood in the middle of the darkness. Wind-chimes dangled around the doorway, they made a catastrophe of noise as they approached.

"Open up!" Iapetus commanded as the approached. The Titan was barely panting despite the fact he was sprinting whilst carry an injured person. Nico couldn't help but try to catch a glimpse of Percy's face, expecting it to be tight with pain, he was surprised (and slightly concerned) to see that it was as blank as before.

The wooden door to the hut, which did look a bit like the hut from Shrek, swung open and Iapetus ran inside without second thought. Nico followed but slowed down enough to glance behind him and see cat-like eyes gleaming from the shadows. Aka: gleaming from just about everywhere.

As soon as Frank was inside, the boy had been the one at the back of the group, the door slammed shut again. For a long time, the only sound was of laboured breathing and then, "Thank you, my friend," from Iapetus.

Nico looked up to admire their saviour. He was almost 7ft tall and looked human from the waist up, besides the fact his skin looked like it had been severely sunburnt. However, his lower body was really strange; he had red-scaled dragon legs and razor sharp claws that Nico decided he didn't want to get too well acquainted with.

"I would say 'you're welcome' but that would imply I was happy to do so, and I can assure you I wasn't," the giant replied with the smoothness of concrete. Iapetus let out a soft laugh as if the giant's far from happy state was something that he thought was entertaining. Nico could assure anyone who asked that it sure as heck wasn't, it was a bit (very) unnerving actually.

"Don't be like that, friend. We need your help," the titan responded. He moved across the room to lay Percy ever so carefully on a fur-covered bed in the corner of the room.

"What did he do this time?" The giant sighed almost fondly.

"They shot him," Iapetus growled, glaring in their direction. Nico shifted self-consciously, they all did except Annabeth who stared right back, eyes stone cold.

"What, again?" The giant drawled; Iapetus cracked a smile. "Who shot him?" Iapetus didn't reply so it was down to them.

"I did, Damasen." Annabeth stepped forward, the giant – Damasen – narrowed his eyes at her as if reading her.

"Ok," Damasen nodded. "Get out."

* * *

"What do I have? Nothing, because some bastard took everything from me because…. I don't even know why!" Percy fumed, folding his arms across his chest and decidedly not looking over at the man who seemed to know him yet he wasn't familiar with.

"You have a future, Perseus, and sometimes that's all a person needs." Smooth like fur yet as harsh as lightning. Percy's anger rose like an empire.

"I have no future because I'm stuck in mysterious-fog-land with nothing but you and your stupid words about hope and future and all that bullocks. And you know what? I don't need some pep talk; I just need it all to stop!" Percy ranted, pacing back and forth. Five steps, turn, five steps, turn over and over again.

"Just because you have no hope now doesn't mean it's gone for good: the sun may dip under the clouds but it's never truly gone." Were those words supposed to help? Because they hurt like hell.

"How cruel are you?" Percy whispered, burying his hands in his manky hair. "To talk of thing that I have never seen or never will see, to talk about the sun, the clouds and-" an angry snarl ripped from his throat and he pivoted on his heel to glare at the stranger. And was greeted by a man with stunning green and blue eyes, the colour brighter than anything he'd ever seen. The man's gaze turned longing at the sight of him but he didn't move from his spot where he sat leaning back on his hands with his legs stretched and crossed at the ankle.

"You will see the sun, Perseus. I promise you that." The sincerity made him pause.

"Every time someone's promised me something they've hurt me," Percy whispered, folding his arms across his chest protectively. The stranger's eyes went dark for a moment, too brief for Percy to be completely sure it really happened and that it wasn't trick.

"You will stand on a beach, Perseus, and the water will tickle your feet." Percy stared at him, baffled. "The wind will catch your hair and pillow around your head, untamed. This will all happen because no one will hold you down. You cannot be controlled."

"Thank you," Percy smiled, not entirely sure why but the idea made him giddy on the inside. It made him shine with a light that hadn't been seen in Tartarus since it was first born, maybe even before then.

"You're welcome, now do what you need to do. I'll see you on the other side, Perseus."

"It's Percy, actually." The man smiled at him, so kindly he had to look away. By the time he looked back again the man was gone. Percy hadn't even had the chance to ask how the man knew his name.

* * *

 **What? You cry. That makes no sense.**

 **Worry not, I have a plan.**

 **This chappy was super hard to write so apoligies if it came out shit but I tried my best.**

 **Hopefully next update will be sooner than this one was. I am aiming to get chapters out once a week, and failing, but I am in the middle of doing a draft of another multi chapter fic.**


	23. Chapter 23 - Rivals within

**You guys are probably used to the late updates by now, right? Sorry about that but inspiration has struck so I'm hoping to finish this story before the end of the year. Whether or not it has a sequel is a bit up in the air at the moment.**

 **Shout outs:**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: haha. Your sister would be really confused if you had started crying. Sorry for abusing your baby XD**

 **LionHunter4867: Yeah, sorry my grammar is terribly. I have every intention of revising every chapter so hopefully it'll read better soon.**

 **The Lilac Bear: Thank you, here is your more.**

 **Matt: Simply because everyone screws up and if people killed one another as soon as they make a mistake then we'd probably be extinct. (this sounds mean but I don't mean it that way, sorry. This is just what I tell myself everytime I consider killing her off)**

 **Percy is babe: sorry for the delay again.**

* * *

'What now?' _A voice whispered in the silence. Actually you couldn't really classify it as a voice, it was more like someone had forcibly pressed the words into his skull and then let them rattle around in his brain at their own accord; releasing a snake and letting it slither._

'What now?'

 _He wasn't sure what was to happen next - he wasn't sure about the present or the past let alone the unfathomable future. A deep breath, then a sigh:_ _the only thing he was capable of in his state of 'huh?'_

 _"_ _Alright, fine." He muttered to himself looking around at the barren land around him. Aside from a few wisps of colour, each inch looked identical to the next, which wasn't really a good thing. After a few moments or watching (waiting) Percy decided to get moving, nowhere to go but no reason to stay, he thought with a devil-may-care grin._

 _"_ _Percy," a voice - her voice – Percy swallowed his pain and whistled a soft tune to calm himself down. He hadn't used the tune to calm himself down in years, not since he realised that it was pointless. Not since he gave up feeling in order to stay alive._

 _"_ _Percy," the same again, Percy hummed deep in his throat until he was lost in the feel of it all. Lost, alone and frightened (shut-up) when did he fall so far? When did he let go? When did someone let him go?_

* * *

 **THALIA**

"What?" she snapped back instantly. Annabeth stared back at the giant with the emotional awareness of a dead peacock.

"Get out," Damasen repeated, stressing each symbol. Thalia ground her teeth.

"She has nowhere to go; in case you hadn't noticed we're in _Tartarus_ – Kronos' territory – without a map, a guide or anything so how, pray tell, are we to finish our mission?" Thalia scowled at the Giant and the Titan in turn secretly hoping that they would give them a solution because against her best wishes she was homesick.

"Mission?" Iapetus repeated, eyes darkening, a hard detail to notice in the darkness of Damasen's hut but obvious enough to have Thalia swallowing thickly. "What are you doing here?" he asked as if the questioned had only just occurred to him and he hated himself for him.

"We are here," Annabeth began, ignoring the explosion of vicious looks directed towards her, "to steal back something for Olympus and to cash in a debt." flat and cold, so unlike the Annabeth Thalia knew.

"'debt'," Nico repeated voice low and dangerous. Not that Thalia would ever admit that she found her little, emo cousin dangerous but he radiated it anyhow. More so now Percy's life was hanging in the balance. Think of the devil and he may appear – Percy let out a low groan and rolled over on his inappropriately-comfortable-looking bed.

Fasted that Thalia could've ever predicted Damasen had darted over to the fallen boy's side and was running his hand along the sweat sheened forehead, whispered words too soft for Thalia to catch.

"How is he?" Iapetus asked, walking over to his friend. The Titan sent them all a look which made it abundantly clear that they had precious time to sort out their issues otherwise the two immortals would sort it out for them. Which was most definitely not something Thalia wanted many more details on.

"What debt, Annabeth?" Piper asked softly. Annabeth seemed to shudder, though it was hardly noticeable behind her cold façade. Everyone was looking at the Daughter of Athena and for once, Annabeth looked mildly uncomfortable.

"He killed him, guys. I know he denied it and I know he's been kind of helpful, but he did it anyhow." She sounded so young; Thalia could still remember her when they were younger, puffy blonde hair and too wise eyes. The way she bossed them around….

Thalia mentally slapped herself – now was so not the time to get all nostalgic.

"I don't think he did, Annabeth," Hazel replied, nearly whispering, however, there was a harsh edge to her voice that had Thalia staring at the girl in surprise (and slight pride).

"You have no proof," Annabeth dismissed instantly, Nico gawked at her.

"You're not exactly shining in that department either, oh wise one, how do you know he did it? He explicitly said that he hadn't." His voice, unlike everyone else's, was cold and harsh.

"Nico," Thalia started, not really sure where her destination was.

"I just know, ok?" Annabeth shot back, lamely. The blonde girl crossed her arms over her chest and chewed on her lip. It was hard to believe that Annabeth, Thalia's friend, had managed to shoot Percy. How had she strayed so far to do something like that?

"Why did you shoot him?" The words slipped past Thalia's lips before she could tighten the leash she held over them. Annabeth looked impassively in her direction, as if to say 'isn't it obvious?' "If you say 'blood must have blood' I'm going to smack you into next millennium." She threatened with enough heat to re-enact Pompeii.

"Good question," Iapetus drawled, marching towards them. Was that time up then?

"It was the only way to balance things out," Annabeth was grasping at straws and they all knew it. And by the sheen on her face, so did she.

"After someone dies there are three things a person can do. No loop-holes and no going back." The Titan's voice was fierce as the apocalypse. He glanced around at them all, reading their reaction. Thalia had none to give, and she wasn't alone either.

"You can kill for them," Like Annabeth. "You can die for them. Or you can fight for them. Which is the best? Which will make the shadows slide away?" The words were rehearsed, that much was as obvious as the sky was blue (in most places anyhow) yet the Titan still sounded curious to hear their reaction. He placed his meaty hands on his muscled hips and waited.

"Die for them," Jason replied. He looked over at Piper and smiled - Thalia tried to not be offended. Not because she cared at all what anyone thought of her; she was a strong daughter of Zeus – she needed no one (though a someone would be nice).

"I don't think so," Frank disagreed. "I think fighting for them is what someone would want." He also looked over at his 'other half' and Hazel beamed up at him. A weird thing for a child of the underworld; Nico hardly smiled unless he was preparing for the task of/in the process of/ or glorifying over his act of killing you.

"Killing for them feels good," Nico butted in shamelessly. "You reap what you sow."

Thalia looked around at the strange group of people around them - each person seemed to juxtapose the other in some epic Shakespearean type sonnet, yet she didn't know what she would do for whom. If someone killed Jason, her baby brother, then there was no telling what she'd do, and to whom.

* * *

"Come on, Percy!" Mummy cheered as Percy tried to climb the hill. Climbing was hard on his legs though, he was much shorter than mummy was. He heard laughing in the wind and flinched away from it. It sounded like Gabe – he didn't like Gabe very much; he smelt like the boy's toilets at school.

 _The memory came out of nowhere and attacked more viciously than any assailant he'd ever face during his long career of a murderer/assassin-ing type thingy. His job didn't really have a name, well he supposed 'Raider' counted somewhat towards a name but it was more of a persona he cloaked himself in rather than an actual name._

 _Whatever: it wasn't important._

 _Gabe._

 _He knew that name yet he couldn't recall a face, or anything but a pungent, vile odorous being that was more toxic than the fumes of his domain. Chaos, he was worse than Hyperion – who was a colossal douche bag who smelt of little but ego and I'm-better-than-you._

"Honey," mummy's voice was quiet. She was never quiet. Mummy was an endless ball of fun and… fun stuff not silent like a mouse, his teachers always told him to be 'quiet as a mouse', honestly, did he look like he was a baby? "This is Gabe. He's going to be staying with us for a while." Oh, that was ok. He liked mummy's friends – they brought him cookies and cakes. He liked cookies a lot. Aww, now he was hungry.

Percy blew out some air through his mouthing, making his lips vibrate. Mummy smiled at him but it looked wrong. "Mummy, what's wrong?" Percy asked her softly, but it came out loud.

"Nothing darling," She smiled wider, still wrongly. She glanced at the door with a scared look on her face. Something was not good, and Percy didn't like it at all.

 _Percy jerked back through time and fell to the ground. Gabe, he lived with them, yes he could remember having to give his lunch money to him all the time. Wait….lunch money? Percy scowled at the sky, which looked no different than the eff-ing everything in that eff-ing place._

 _He let out a breath and his lips hummed together, just like all those years ago. Percy smiled slightly at the sky (eff-ing sky) and rolled to his feet._

 _"_ _Hi Gabe," he sang in a fake accent, just because he could. "I'm Percy, and this is my mother Sally. Now if you'd kindly go impale yourself on the Empire State Building that would be lovely. You bastard." Never did his voice waver, not even when a wave of hatred smashed violently against its protective walls. Wait, what the hell was the Empire State Building._

"Come o'er 'ere, punk," Gabe slurred. Percy narrowed his eyes at him and curled smaller against the wall. Gabe had hurt his mummy. Percy didn't like that very much.

"No," Percy shouted back. He was hiding under his mummy and that man's bed. Smelly Gabe couldn't get him under there.

"I ain't asking, brat." Gabe let out a yell as he ripped the bed off the floor. Percy's mouth went 'o' as he watched the cheap thing smash against the picture of Percy and mummy in Montauk that was right over Percy's head, pretty much anyway. Glass went everywhere and it hurt. His cheek was stinging and his forehead was prickling meanly as he was grabbed by his hair. People at school didn't like his hair. They said it was 'girls' hair'. Percy cried, he always cried.

 _Almost used to it now, Percy hardly twitched when he came back to himself, but immediately flinched when he realised he was somehow standing. Distantly he realised his cheeks were wet and a hand went subconsciously to his forehead. He could feel anything but streaks of mud stained hair moulded into the skin._

 _Was there a scar there? Probably not. He didn't have as many scars as one might think; he healed in the Phlegethon too much for anything to really mark him permanently._

 _Gabe had hurt him, a lot. Like everyone else he bloody knew. Percy rolled his eyes wishing his eyes would stop stinging quite so much. He was tired and for the first time in too long he wanted to not be along: he wanted company._

 _"_ _Hey," he whispered to himself, again. "I don't know you and you don't want to know me but if someday you have time." He hissed away the lump in his throat and dared to glance up. "I'm so lonely. And I-" his voice cracked as he slid to his knees, "I'm not crazy."_

* * *

 **THALIA**

"So, how is he?" Annabeth asked quietly. Nico seemed to sizzle to life before her eyes.

"Why do you care?" The son of Hades hissed. Jason reached out to grab the boys arm but he was too far gone. "You tried to kill him! You really need to take a look in the mirror and think for once in your life!" Leo jumped in front of Annabeth, blocking the son of Hades' path.

"I'm looking at the woman in the mirror! I'm asking her to change her ways!" Leo was no murderer but he slaughtered tension with hidden professionalism that blew Thalia's mind. Not that she'd ever tell the boy that until the day she died. Hazel snorted and Frank grinned at the son of Hephaestus. Thalia stared, trying to reign in the laughter rising in her throat.

"I wish I had a response," Nico sighed. "But there isn't one that will save me from this misery." Thalia rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

"Aww, dude you're just jealous that you can't hold a note," Leo beamed at him. Beamed wasn't a strong enough word. She wasn't sure a word existed to describe the thing that had planted itself on Leo's face.

"I don't catch them so I can't hold them, you, however, catch them to the point their only hope of happiness is to violently throw themselves out of your throat into the poor ear canals of your audience." Nico finished with a smirk. Leo's grin momentarily receded.

"I'm not entirely sure what that means but I'll take it as a compliment," Leo tried to hug Nico – a very, very dangerous move – Nico made a hissing sound that sent Thalia back to the Hyenas in the Lion King.

"Don't touch me, peasant!" He cried as he darted around the room to take cover behind 6'1 foot of Jason Grace.

"I'm not a peasant! I'm first class!" Leo tried to grab Nico by the jacket but the son of Hades was too quick and sprinted behind Thalia.

"Thou art El peasant (pronounce pez-aren't)!" Annabeth sent Thalia a look, who in return sent Jason a look.

Someone cleared their throat. Leo looked like he was approximately half a second away from wetting himself over the sudden appearance. Damasen was standing next to a very confused Iapetus. Thalia gave them a 'please help' look.

"Not that this isn't gloriously entertaining," Nico flushed scarlet, "but we need to leave," Damasen looked at them all in the eyes, radiating utter seriousness.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked as the two beings immediately began rushing around, grabbing various bottles, bags and crates. Iapetus paused before looking over at the bed in the corner. Thalia followed his gaze and stared at Percy. They had removed a layer of his hanging top and in its place was a simple shirt that looked filthy but hugged his lean figure. He looked so young.

"I don't know if I can carry him," the Titan admitted to Damasen, the Giant paused his haul.

"Then don't," Annabeth ordered. "Obviously someone is coming for you, or him. So let's take a dummy away and have them follow that." She sounded like Athena, and Thalia didn't mean that as a compliment.

"They'll know," Damasen dismissed, walking over to the Tartarus child and laying his scarred hand on his forehead. "We can't move him; he's unstable enough as it is."

"All of us running at once will be enough of an aura to draw them away, also-" here she paused thoughtfully, carefully, "some of us can draw on our powers," another pause, this one pained. "You. You can draw on your powers to divert them away." Never has a sentence sounded so pathetic when coming from a child of Athena's mouth. Hubris, she thought, deadly pride.

"No-" Damasen started but was cut off by Nico.

"We can't leave Percy by himself. Someone has to stay." Almost at once everyone, bar Annabeth, raised their hands. Thalia felt mildly embarrassed as she pointed to the ceiling, it wasn't fear - it was absolute terror because Kronos was coming.

And Kronos would kill them all for Percy.

"Why does he need Percy anyway? He has thousands following him, Percy can hardly be that important, can he?" Thalia wished she sounded like Annabeth in that moment, she wished that she could be mild and calculating, yet wishing went unanswered more often than not, as sad as it may be.

"To be honest we're not sure," Iapetus admitted, looking like it pained him (which wasn't satisfying at all…) and Damasen shifted at the use of the pronoun. Thalia narrowed her eyes at him, not that it fazed the Giant the slightest bit.

"You must have some idea," Thalia coaxed her gaze never wavering from Damasen even when Iapetus levelled a burning glare in her direction. Damasen looked up at her briefly before staring at his companion, looking pained.

"Well…"

* * *

 _"_ _Hello?" Percy called into the oblivion. "Anybody out there? Come on I'm getting sick of this now! Whatever life altering realisation I was supposed to have I somehow missed so can we speed this up!" No reply. Just like the last zillion times he's opened his mouth. Chaos, he was so bored. He hadn't realised before but without anything else to occupy his mind he noticed: he was naked._

 _Ok not actually butt-naked but he felt that way. All his weapons were gone, including but not limited to:_

 _His fold-up bow (that he hardly used because archery was a pain), his arrows (again: pain), the knives he hid in his boots (one for each foot), the two miniature daggers he strapped to his triceps, his two hunting knives that had a secure spot on his back (seriously how did he not notice their absence?) and his gun (out of ammo but he carried it still.)_

 _Surprisingly all that wasn't particularly heavy or maybe he was just really strong._

 _Not to mention his clothes. He was wearing a long top and some woolly trousers, and underwear (thank all the Gods for that one, except Zeus; he was kind of an a-hole)._

 _So whatever thing had sent him to his current prison had the power to strip him almost bare but somehow could wash his hair? Maybe a clean face would be nice? No? Rude._

 _Percy shook his head angrily and started pacing in a circle. Bored. Bored. Bored._

 _"_ _Perseus." Wait, was that…. Ok, not bored now. Totally fine please leave. "Got you," Gods damn it!_

 _"_ _Sup Kronos," Percy greeting, hoping that if he paced fast enough he'd make a hole in the floor, seriously: any escape would do him fine._

 _"_ _Perseus," he whispered, fading away._

 _"_ _Oh thank Chaos," Percy breathed, pressing a fist against his chest, trying to still his racing heart. It was a trick, must've been. Kronos couldn't be where he was, not that his location was really an anywhere._

 _"_ _Run," that wasn't Kronos, Percy thought dimly spinning in a circle to find his companion. It was the man from before, the one that somehow knew his name (which was really creepy in hindsight)._

 _"_ _Where are you?" Percy asked already knowing that he wouldn't get a response from him. What was his name again?_

 _"_ _Run, Percy. He's coming." That wasn't ominous at all; Percy scowled into the distance, hoping the man that looked so damn familiar could feel his omnipotent distaste. Then the warning registered._

 _So he ran._

 _Even breathing rapidly slipped into chaotic spasms as the air went thick and the entire world slipped around him. Gold shifted into bronze and blue became black._

 _The ground under his feet morphed from even terrain to rocks and lumps and, more worryingly, gaps. Percy fought the urge to look ahead or behind in favour of staring at the ground. The gaps were a metre wide (give or take) and leaping became much more of an effort than it really should have been._

 _A shadow inched its way over his feet (he was barefooted? Why?!) Percy darted his gaze to the inconvenient cliff in front of him. Who the hell made cliffs and why?!_

 _"_ _I hate everything!" He yelled – because he eff-ing could, ok – as he launched himself into the air. His fingers (gloveless, typically) gripped the cool edge of the rock and his feet were pressed against the side. Only it wasn't cold – it was baking hot. Not as hot as the Phlegethon but it was a close second (fire would only get an award for taking part), hissing Percy quickly hefted himself up until he could hoist his knee up onto the edge and pulled himself to his feet._

 _Parkour is so cool, everyone had to admit. He kept running, as always. Running, running, oh and what's that? Oh yeah, eff-ing running._

* * *

 **THALIA**

"Kronos is after something – as far as I'm aware – it'll change his hand is his supposed war against Olympus. He never says what it is or what it's meant to do. All I know is that he," he pointed at Percy, who was muttering to himself on the bed, Thalia couldn't catch any words and was nearly certain it wasn't English, Greek or Latin, "is the only one who can get it and Kronos isn't willing to let it fall into enemy hands."

"Wait," Jason commanded. "He wants to wage war against Olympus?" Iapetus rolled his eyes.

"Well yes, obviously." Jason crossed his arms, muttering unpleasant things that had Thalia smirking madly. "Earth was 'always meant to be his' it was his 'birth right' and all that." Iapetus and Damasen shared a smile that Thalia didn't want any part of.

"If Percy was the one to get it then surely he would've gotten it from him by now," Annabeth pressed, like Thalia, she seemed tense but desperately trying to hide it. Which was fair enough, you know, considering the whole imminent attack from the King of the Titans situation.

"Sadly Percy has something else Kronos needs – Charm." Annabeth snorted and Piper shushed her softly. Piper hardly spoke anymore, and it concerned Thalia greatly.

"He's not all that charming, really," Frank sniffed, shifting uncomfortably under the force of Damasen's and Iapetus' gaze. They needed a pair name; Thalia decided but couldn't think of one. (Damatus? Iapasen? Each seemed even worse than the last.)

"Maybe not to your kind," Damasen allowed. "But to Titans and Giants he's small and amusing. When he was younger he was a little ball of fire constantly finding things to burn." His voice was fond, Thalia found herself unable to look at anyone in the eye. For no reason, at all, shut-up.

"Why would that help him? Kronos I mean." Nico asked cautiously, his gaze flickered from Damasen to Percy and back again in rapid recession. Thalia knew that he was thinking (a surprise in itself) but couldn't figure out what. Not that she was trying particularly hard anyway.

Iapetus sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. "Because he needs allies and through some magical bullocks Percy gets him allies and ah…." Here he paused awkwardly, "he… removes opposition with little complaint."

Great. So he was a genocidal maniac, fan-frigging-tastic.

A bang echoed beyond the safe walls of the swamp hut, Damasen growled loudly but didn't reach for a weapon, or really anything for that matter. Unlike his companion, Iapetus, who grabbed a spear out of seemingly thin-air and got ready to charge.

"Can he even die? Percy I mean, he mentioned dying and coming back a few times so…" Annabeth squinted at the shivering body on the bed with no small amount of curiosity. Thalia pressed her fist against her forehead and fought the urge to pray to the Gods because _bloody Annabeth._

"He was giving slight immortality as a gift: it has rules and sadly letting him die at the hands of his own weapon breaks those." Iapetus snapped deeply irritated.

"For gods' sakes!" Hazel hissed her thunderous eyes almost matching the Titan's, which was pretty impressive in Thalia's eyes considering the girl wasn't all that scary looking. Really.

"Fine," Damasen sighed to himself. "Someone will stay with Percy while the rest of us will have to lead Kronos away in a little game of cat and mouse." Annabeth looked smug so Thalia marched over to her and gripped her by the elbow.

"This is all your fault, you know? We might be almost out of here by now if it wasn't for you and your flipping pride!" Annabeth looked unfazed so Thalia drew her even closer. "And if you think for one second that I won't tell anyone what you did then you are vastly mistaken, my friend." With a wolfish grin that she was sure would make Jason proud, she turned to the Titan and Giant. "So, who's staying behind?"

"Me," Nico volunteered instantly, his eyes were burning with something Thalia could not place but the infamous 'Big Three stubbornness' was there too and she knew there was no arguing to be done.

"No, we need your power," Piper seemed to take his determination as a challenge yet she used no charmspeak and was nothing but gentle.

"He," Nico gestured to Percy who had at some point rolled over onto his side and was curled up like a child, "needs me way more than you guys do. Besides," a shrug, "I radiate death which is kind of a trend in this place so I'll be a lot less noticeable than any of you guys." Thalia nodded and held out a hand to Iapetus who handed her a bag of some sort which she swung over her shoulder with no question (she did make an 'oof' sound but that was just because there was something suspiciously sharp and heavy in the bag which she would rather not have hanging next to her body.)

"Let's go then," Jason smirked.

* * *

 _'_ _Where are you going, child?" cruel and cunning._

 _'_ _You have nowhere to go to, and no reason to be afraid. Stop running, boy." Percy shook his head through his hazy vision and tried to pick up speed but he had none left. He had no idea how long he had been running but it was getting a bit ridiculous by this point._

 _"_ _Leave. Me. Alone!" He shouted, more like whimpered but…shut-up._

 _A wicked laugh for a wicked being, Percy shudder involuntarily at the sound wishing for a weapon of some kind, he needed a something because without it he was next to useless. Yes, he knew hand-to-hand combat, was actually not terrible at it, but that involved getting a bit too close to something he'd rather not see with clear eyes._

 _Out of nowhere, a hand reached to his ankle and grabbed it. Percy almost fell but the hand seemed to turn to mist as soon as it had appeared. Another laugh; another shudder. So unfair really, he had trained and endured for ten years, give or take, to just fall._

 _A dozen more hands erupted from the ground causing the rock and dirt to fly up into his face. Percy threw his hands over his eyes but it did little as they began to stung mercilessly. See, the funny thing was that it always seemed that no matter how much pain you were used to the little things always seemed to hurt more. Which was unbelievable really, seriously, come on._

 _Stupidly, he thought that this patch of hands would vanish as smoothly as the first but life was a pain so they lingered. Like a towering shadow, they clouded over his mind until there was nothing left of him but the things gripping at him. He tried to move but he wasn't strong enough (would he ever be strong enough?) before he realised what was going on he was on his knees._

 _'_ _Percy," a hand became a figure which somehow became a body, face and all._

 _"_ _Mum," he whimpered, stopping momentarily in his struggle._

 _'_ _Join me, Percy.' She pleaded, blue eyes shining. 'And we can be together again like I know you've always wanted.' Untrue, maybe once he wanted that but now…_

 _"_ _I'm sorry," he lowered his head as he slapped her hand away and she fell, screaming his name, into the immortal abyss below. "So, sorry," he tried to fight the others, not that he really needed to – they fell away as easily as the first without his mother there… his mum…_

 _Running was not the right verb for his action, he was stumbling and shaking and sort-of-maybe-not-really crying. "Sorry," he whispered again for no real reason (did everything have to have a reason? Could words just be words or was that too much for anyone to bear?)._

 _The words flipped over him and once again he found himself curled up on the ground, as if he was no more than a kid (which he wasn't) a dark shadow (can you have light shadows?) was cast over him and, like before, it twisted into a man._

 _'_ _Get o'er 'ere, brat, or you're really gonna regret it!" The man, Gabe, raised a shiny thing over his shoulder and smashed it on his head. Pain trickled from his centre hair line, through his left eyebrow, to his cheek._

 _"_ _Hey!" He shouted, startled, he cupped the wound feeling hot liquid trickle. Gabe let out a monstrous laugh that rattled the world. Percy sucked in a brief and tucked further into himself. As he did he glimpsed something shiny on the ground._

 _Glass. Nice, Percy thought smirked as he wrapped his fingers securely around the impromptu weapon, ignoring the way it bit into his hand. With a yell, he leapt to his feet and buried the shard into the abominable man's neck. Gabe hardly made a sound, expect a sort of gurgle, before he vanished._

 _Two down, Percy thought, whipping his bloody hand on his knees, how many more to go?_

 _'_ _That,' a thunderous voice mused, 'wasn't very kind.' Percy became blind with rage as he whirled on the man he hated most in the world. The one that had taken everything from him for no real reason except for the simple fact he wanted to._

 _"_ _Zeus." He greeted with the kindness of a chainsaw (what the heck was a chainsaw? He hated amnesia.)_

 _"_ _Perseus," came the reply._

* * *

 **Ok, the flashback Percy portion shouldn't last longer than one more chapter. Also, Percy POV is slightly messy because I always imagined him having a chaotic mind so I tried to show it. Emphasis on tried.**

 **see you next time. Next chapter is gonna be deep, you have been warned.**

 **(Editing is eff-ing difficult, bloody hell (pardon my French))**


	24. Chapter 24 - Realm of Broken Dreams

**Nothing will ever be quite as annoying as when you plan a chapter only to write it completely different for no apparent reason.**

 **Shout-outs:**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: I take that as a success then, nice.**

 **Guest: thank you**

 **Percy is bae: you're not annoying, really your reviews make me so happy. Here's the next chappy, hope you like it.**

 **Guest: ha, really? I'm not sure if I'm going with Percy and Thalia yet or not, it's tempting, I'll say that much.**

 **FateOfChaos: Thank you so much. Characterisation is one of the hardest parts of writing, at least to me, so it really means a lot that you think I'm doing it right. His reaction would just be insane, I can't wait.**

 **DemigodSassReaders: Humour is my goal through the entirety of this story, I'm glad you like it.**

 **(some people reviewed previous chapters but I wont do shout-outs here because it would be too confusing, sorry)**

* * *

 _"So we meet again," the Lord of the Sky greeted with the friendliness of the product of a spear and a battle-axe breeding (ignoring that whole two-negatives-make-a-positive bollocks)._

 _"It would appear so," Percy replied with an awful lot more flippantness than the great Zeus._

 _"I should have shot you down the moment you took a breath," The god declared, which was all well and good but Percy was a little bit offended that it took a whole sixteen years for him to come to such an obvious conclusion._

 _Slowly Percy raised his hands and clapped for the God, unsure exactly how much damage Zeus could so in the murky land he had been unfairly banished to. Zeus rumbled angrily – a sound that resembled a loud fart, don't tell Zeus though; he was probably a tad sensitive about it, poor guy._

 _"I suppose I was feeling merciful, a rare occurrence, I'll tell you that much." The god droned on, Percy tapped his foot impatiently. "Your father is as brash as they come I'm afraid," the god seemed to be searching for a reaction in the muscles in his face, Percy gave him none with no small amount of glee, "little can be done I suppose. He always was strange, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?"_

 _Percy was sure he was meant to be insulted by the frankly rubbish comments being chucked his way but he couldn't bring himself to care enough to give more than a hum. Zeus looked disappointed._

 _"You know," Percy began his voice level as a sheet of celestial bronze. "You're an awful lot less impressive than I always thought you'd be. No offence intended, of course, but your daughter is kind of scary looking with the whole I-want-to-kill-you look in her eyes, you look half-asleep." Zeus kept trying to interrupt him but the endless stream of words seemed to have no intentions of stopping, which was fine, Percy supposed._

 _"Oh," the realisation hit him like a bullet (which he knew the feel of better than most), "it's not really you is it?" Percy grinned manically, clutching the bloodied glass in his palm._

 _"I'm real," Zeus disagreed. The god patted his chest and it was indeed solid, Percy noted dimly that the god was wearing a suit, how typical. Percy squinted at the gods left eye (one cannot look someone in the eyes because one cannot look at two things at ones) and waited._

 _"Liar," Percy grinned and lunged at the man._

* * *

 **ANNABETH**

After the Titan and the Giant had left Nico with a seemingly endless list of instructions they were off into the deadly landscape, like a bunch of six-year-olds about the visit some crappy museum so their school could actually pretend the shit they were teaching them was actually legitimate.

Annabeth could never forgive her history teacher for telling her lies about the gods – about how Hercules was Zeus and Hera's child. Liars, all of them, and they didn't even care.

"Put these on her," Iapetus instructed harshly as he practically threw some metal things – she didn't get a good enough look at them – at Thalia. Her best friend gave a wicked grin at her haul. Annabeth refused to gulp but had it been a less stressful circumstance, she would have.

Thalia waved the, ah, handcuffs threateningly as she approached Annabeth. Annabeth made her gaze that of a warrior, it was effortless really.

"Ooh," Leo purred as he watched them, "kinky." Thalia spun round and silenced him with a storm-like look. The rest of the group gave various snort and chuckles. They were wasting time but didn't seem to care, idiots.

"Keep your mouth and your 'kinky' to yourself, Valdez," Thalia huffed turning back to Annabeth who lazily crossed her arms over her chest. She was not going to be let herself be handcuffed in Tartarus; she did indeed have some common sense. Pride, her mind whispered – she shushed it impatiently.

"Come on," Thalia shook the handcuffs again as if Annabeth were too obtuse to deduce their use for herself; she rolled her eyes condescendingly and wondered why a moment later.

Thalia wasn't her enemy; she knew this. So why was everyone treating her as if she were theirs? She had done what she had to do, it was simple as that. Raider would recover when and where he was ready. No one suffered yet finally Kronos would be off their back and she could begin her true mission. Like an asp, Thalia struck out and grabbed her wrist and looped the detestable object around it. Annabeth made a low growl in her throat and yanked it back. Thalia latched onto her collar and drew her in close.

"Put the other on or I'll tie you in here and you can wait for Percy to wake up, I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you after what you did." It wasn't really a threat – Annabeth wasn't afraid of Raider, yet she found herself betrayed by her brain once again as she allowed herself to be deprived of her hands.

"You know, Wisdom-spawn," Annabeth bristled at the name but Damasen ploughed on, "you are not as smart as you seem to believe you are."

Annabeth laughed, and even to her, it sounded like a chainsaw meeting flesh. "You have no idea what I'm capable of," Iapetus let out a laugh that practically boomed around the room.

"Oh really? Well, then how come you were the first of your friend to fall under Tartarus' curse?" The words sucked the air out of her lungs and her vision fuzzed around the edges, like a dated video game.

"What the Tartarus are you yammering on about?" Thalia demanded, not one for niceties. Iapetus' gaze turned cruel.

"So he didn't tell you?" He looked over at Raider, grinning still. Annabeth wanted to tear that look right off his face. She wanted to burn him down, cell by cell. Inch by inch; centimetre by centimetre, still no one answered.

A shuddered breath slipped past her lips and finally, the grin vanished and her vision shimmered back to life.

"Anger and hatred, down here it's fatal. It changed me in ways I can't explain." Leo leaned forward in anticipation, Iapetus smiled at him, with severely less cruelty than before. "Well," he straightened and shouldered the bag he'd filled with supplies – some that Annabeth really doubted the necessity of, "we aren't in a good place at the moment so I'll have to tell you later."

Leo groaned and buried his hands in his hair next to him Frank patted his shoulder sympathetically but offered no condolences.

"King will be here soon, we have to go, now." Damasen gave Annabeth a shove towards the door, apparently, he was her impromptu guard, and she rolled her eyes. They really needed to get their priorities straight. A hard blow echoed through her head, stunned she turned to Damasen who was lowered his hand.

"Roll your eyes again, Missy, and-"

"I'll gauge them out of your pretty little skull," Iapetus finished. Annabeth's eyes tickled but she kept them on the Titan channelling as much hatred as she could muster from the black pit inside her. The one that whispered and thrashed as she walked towards the door without so much as a glance at her 'friends' behind her.

She could deal with them another time; once she was done they would understand that everything she did and will do, was for all of them. It was for the world that they deserved.

The one she and Luke were going to build, together. Before he failed his task, which was fine because she was here now and the gods' blessing would protect her. She would win in the end; Raider would have to save himself.

She was done with him.

* * *

 _His fist connected with the god's jaw, which was simply the best feeling in the world. Even if he was fake, still bloody brilliant._

 _Sadly he wasn't allowed to goad over his victory before Zeus disappeared, Percy stared at the space before him, his fist throbbing unhappily. Percy patted it gently, like a pet, wishing that it would just deal with the pain instead of making a big eff-ing deal about it. Seriously, grow up hand._

 _YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT, BOY._

 _The words echoed around the empty land around him, Percy shivered as the hair rose on his arms. Above him, the world seemed to rumble to life as black clouds (jeez, he did not remember clouds looking that way, weren't they meant to be white? Not black, hmm) the stretched over him, like his very own dome of death. Flattering, really, thanks Zeus._

 _YOU WILL FEEL MY WRATH._

 _No, I won't, Percy though. Because you're not real, but deep down he knew that maybe he'd made an error in his assessment. Easy to assume he had, after all, it wasn't exactly a one-time occurrence; he was a, as Iapetus kindly put it, 'classic f***-up' which wasn't offensive at all, obviously._

 _A solid white beam of light shot into the area to his right, ripping up the ground as if it were made of fabric – Percy laughed sadly (you know the kind 'he he heee', the one you make when you were a few seconds away from dying a horrible death)._

 _Another flash shuddered behind him and so he ran like the maniac he was or, uh, flailed because lightning was really scary when it was trying to hit you._

 _YOU THINK YOU CAN OUT RUN ME, CHILD?_

 _"No but I'm going to try you, nutter," Percy screeched. He rolled to his left as a piece of the ground casually soared at him. OK: don't panic, Percy told himself firmly. It's all good; he was fine._

 _It wasn't real._

 _With that thought, he slammed his metaphorical breaks and came to a halt. It wasn't really, was it? It was a fever-driven illusion that was made from mixing the Lethe water with the Acheron water: Memory and Pain._

 _It made sense but they why did his forehead still sting after Gabe had hit him rather rudely? Percy didn't know entirely – it wasn't like he'd tested the water fusion on anyone, least of all himself; he wasn't that stupid._

 _Percy pressed his hand to his head experimentally, it came away bloody but it felt wrong. He smelt it and the usual metallic bite wasn't there. It wasn't really, he laughed again – this time with far more joy. His elation echoed mercilessly until he was sure that it could be heard by the 'god' attacking him._

 _"You thought you could fool me?" He asked the lies around him, each woven more intricately than the last. "You thought," he broke off laughing, "You thought I was an idiot, but I made you." He threw his hands out to the side as a boulder sailed through him; he became mist as it passed._

 _"You are my illusion, my creation. And I will destroy you." The words held a gravity that the atmosphere didn't and the clouds tumbled down around him._

 _YOU'RE WRONG._

 _"Am I?" The ground shuddered around him and sunk beneath invisible waves. "Then how come I won?"_

 _YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH._

 _"Yes I do," he disagreed even as his vision began to blacken._

 _"I'M DEALING WITH MYSELF."_

* * *

 **THALIA**

"Where the heck are we going?" Thalia demanded, her spiky bag groping her armpit for the millionth time since their departure. Annabeth glared at her, Thalia glared back.

"We're going forward," Iapetus hissed out. Thalia narrowed her eyes: no shit.

"And then what?" Leo asked for her. Thalia scowled at him and the boy smiled happily. Like always.

"Sideways." Iapetus snarled.

"Thank you for that, really helpful." Thalia rolled her eyes at the Titans back, next to her Leo smile dimmed slightly. She wasn't sure why but didn't really care so…

"Be quiet," Annabeth instructed steadily, Thalia mashed her teeth together so hard she was sure her teeth would be permanently damaged.

"You don't get an opinion, missus. We should've gagged you," Thalia mentally slapped herself, maybe they should've all been gagged: would've been a lot stealthier, to be honest.

"It's a free country." Annabeth huffed, flipping her blonde curls over her shoulder as she seemed to rise above them like some aerial spirit. Don't slap her, Thalia instructed herself firmly.

"Oh yeah, then why did I have to go to school? Huh, riddle me that, Wise One." Leo challenge. Annabeth returned to them with a withered look on her face.

Jason marched up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, just don't." But it was too late for mercy.

"Because without it we'd all be useless as…" for a second the mighty Athena-child struggled for a word as she seemed to flip through the thesaurus embedded in her mind, "as a bunch of brutes permanently forced to smack each other into a coma in order to buy more drugs to liquefy what little common sense they had!"

You could drop a pin and it would be a bullet against the brewing silence, Annabeth's face was flushed with life that Thalia hadn't seen on the girls face since that went to Olympus that fateful day. Leo looked stunned, but not the least bit amazed by the inane babble that had poured from Annabeth's mouth.

"I haven't ever really been to school," Jason commented mildly. Annabeth shrivelled slightly as she looked at Thalia's brother. "I mean, I was raised in Camp Jupiter, and before that with Lupa so I guess," he shrugged, "I'm nothing but a brute." He smiled at Annabeth. Thalia half expected (hoped) that there would be malice in his gaze but she knew Jason well enough to be sure that the opinion of others mattered to him but never enough to break him. Thalia wished she could say the same for herself.

"We best be getting on," Iapetus cut in awkwardly. Damasen nodded at him and the Giant began his brutal march again, and that was that.

For about five seconds.

A crash echoed around them, much like when you drop a frying pan early in the morning and feel like the world has just ended. Except it was worse because it could've easily been the end of their world, all things considered.

"Kronos knows we left," Iapetus commented, around them the ground shuddered at the name. That was new. "And Tartarus doesn't like what he's up to," the Titan translated softly before breaking into a jog and gaining distance between the hut and wherever the heck they were going.

Thalia wasn't sure that a brisk jog was going to help them outrun the Lord of Time; however, she had little choice as a gust of wind blew their way that promised that something large was coming their way.

"Tartarus is a being then?" Annabeth shuddered out, running awkwardly due to her handcuffs, Thalia wished away her guilt but alas; wishes hardly ever came true when you were running through Greek hell while trying to out run you grandfather.

"Yes he is, and he's awake again." Damasen hissed out, panicked.

"Is that bad for us?" Jason asked as he easily kept pace with the much larger beings.

"For them, it's disastrous, for us? Depends," a very unhelpful answer, thanks, Iapetus.

"On what?" She demanded, patience wearing thin over her much like a reptile shedding its skin.

"How mad Percy is at you lot,"

* * *

 _"A bullet, Raider, really I expected better," he wasn't fully awake (or like, awake at all,) when the wispy words slithered intrusively into his ears. Percy screwed his eyes shut to still his nausea, and anger, before facing his next challenge. "Silent treatment, that's a first from you."_

 _He was feeling a bit attacked, in all honesty. What the heck had he done to piss this douche off so much?_

 _"Oh yeah, like you could've done any better," Percy muttered, rolling onto his side. Yes, he was on the ground. No, he didn't know why. Honestly, he was seriously beginning to doubt the reliability of his memory._

 _Percy distinctly remembered handing fake-Zeus his ass on a silver platter and then nothing else. He really hated the Lethe sometimes, all it did was leave him confused, angry, lost, sad, angry and, oh yeah, angry. Now he was lying in the pitch black (typically). Honestly, he was sick of the colour schemes of his dreams._

 _"Well, I would hope I could, considering I have more strength that the whole of your lot combined." The voice bragged. Percy huffed a very flattering (not) comment under his breath as he clambered to his feet, as graceful as an eff-ing ballerina, thank you very much._

 _"Ok, Mister Modesty, whatever you say," he sniffed, trying to pick out his kidnapper in the darkness, no easy task. Well: the person had a male voice so it was most certainly someone he had managed to royally piss off at some point over the last decade; someone who he annoyed enough to orchestrate a whole trapped-in-a-suspicious-dark-room-thingy-type-hostage-situation, which narrowed it down to basically the whole population of Tartarus, great._

 _"Watch your tongue," he was warned. Oh, if only he got a present every time someone told him that; he'd have everything he'd ever wanted and more things on top of that._

 _"Can't: never was good at going cross-eyed," completely true, he was still a bit sensitive about it. To demonstrate, he stuck his tongue out as far as he could and tried to look at it. Kind of an impossible task because, you know, darkness._

 _"Very nice, Raider-"_

 _"Percy," he interrupted nonchalantly. He was growing back into his old name, Perseus was a massive no-no but Percy was alright: made him feel like he was still his mother's son, so to speak._

 _"Ok then, Percy, what are you doing here?" Guess who just won the award for most-eff-ing-useless-question-asker-ever?_

 _"No fricking clue I'm afraid Mister Stalker," Percy shrugged, which was also not particularly helpful in the darkness. Usually, he was pretty good at adapting to the dark but now it was like the shadows were physically placed over his eyes with little but the intention of keeping him in the dark (is that a pun? If so then you have been blessed)._

 _"I would inform you that watching how you address people would be helpful but I have learnt that that's not the most productive course of action,"_

 _"Wow, good call, Genius," Percy praised, slowly he took a step to his left – the voice came from in front of him so he should accidentally plough straight into his kidnapper, a good thing 'cause boy that would be awkward._

 _"Now, where do you think you're going," this guy and his questions, man._

 _"To the left," he informed the man (?) smoothly. "To the left," he repeated for no apparent reason._

 _"You'll fall off the cliff, Percy." Oh, great._

 _"Well, if you tell me where I am and who you are then I'll stop going to the left, to the left." Why the heck did he keep repeating that?_

 _"Don't you recognise me?" then it hit him, metaphorically, of course, the darkness wasn't the lack of light; it was him._

 _"Tartarus." He breathed, he sounded awed, like a child. Damn._

 _"Good one, Sherlock." He just got sassed by a Primordial. Percy stayed silent, lost. Sure, he'd met Tartarus before but never had he been quite so solid before. Usually no more than a voice but now Percy could feel him, sense him even. Even without a real form, Percy could find where he was effortlessly._

 _"More silent treatment, how cold of you," the primordial droned on seemingly oblivious to Percy's not-quite-epic-realisation. "Now, why don't you sit down and tell me why I find you half-dead in my realm."_

 _He didn't want to sit down._

 _The shadows shuddered around him furiously._

 _He sat down._

 _"There, now speak, Percy,"_

 _Percy didn't know what to say because –surprise surprise – he couldn't remember how he got where he was, sure he knew he'd been shot but he couldn't place how it happened or who did it. He felt like rain had rinsed away the contents of his biography, leaving him with illegible ramble with no real use._

 _"I don't really remember," he mumbled, strangely embarrassed about his naivety. Which was stupid: it wasn't his fault but then again he should've known before that Kronos had no limits to his manipulation._

 _"Hmm, that's not surprising. But, humour me and try to tell me how you came to Tartarus, all those years ago." That happened like ten years ago, he couldn't remember squat about it._

 _"I, ok, uh…" articulate, right?_

 _A cold hand lay on his forehead, part of him wanted to recoil away but the hand was grounding so he was still as Medusa's victims. Jeez, he really hated her._

 _"My mum was there, she was smiling." He could almost see her again as if Tartarus was pulling the very memories from his brain, which wasn't really impossible as he was now sure that he had had those particular memories (and no doubt many others) violently torn from his reach. "She had a basket with her, the cliché picnic ones, Gabe had made sure that she only took a tiny about of food, but she still took the biggest one she could find._

 _"We sat at the very top of a hill, the view was," here he smiled, "incredible. Ocean as far as the eye could see. I don't remember now what it looked like exactly," it was like a worn out photograph, he saw her but nothing of the background was clear._

 _"And then," Tartarus prompted, his tone was softer than he had ever heard. It was no less dangerous though._

 _"The clouds turned black as night. She screamed and told me to run, but I was too afraid to. The wind wrapped around my neck but she pushed it away and then-" his voice shattered into thousands of shards of glass: beautiful and deadly; smooth and sharp._

 _"Percy?"_

 _"It was worse than on TV, it was worse than our science teacher told us." He opened his eyes, when had he closed them?_

 _"What was Percy?"_

 _"Death, her death, I saw her get ripped apart, cell by cell." He felt like a match, a piece of tinder, gasoline. He was ready to burn, burn, burn._

 _Because he had laughed; the sky had cackled with glee over its pray._

 _"Before it could get me too, the ground opened up, like a big mouth. I thought it was a nightmare but-" his gaze darted to where he had no doubt the Primordial was "-it was you."_

 _"Calm down," Tartarus commanded, withdrawing his hand and retreating away._

 _Percy still felt like he was crackling with energy. The darkness backed away from him cautiously, was it afraid? No: it was stunned._

 _"It was you who brought me here." An obvious, too short statement that had the power to rock worlds, level it all as if it were grains of sand._

 _"I kept you alive,"_

 _"No, you just kept me breathing," Percy shouted at the most powerful being he'd met. He was going to get himself killed, permanently, but how could he think of his life when he'd already lost it._

 _All those years he'd_ _blamed_ _Zeus, his mother's murderer, and sure, it was the god's fault but above it all, it was the Primordial's._

 _"You took me here, why?" he hissed, voice of a hurricane: invisible and, more importantly, unstoppable._

 _"You needed to see both sides,"_

 _"Both sides of what exactly?" How his voice managed to sound calm through his clenched teeth he would never know._

 _"The gods and the Titan's, their world and ours," Was it that hard to give a straight answer for once, why did age come with being a being unjustly vague?_

 _"I don't care about either of your worlds," he snarled, which wasn't true, not yet. But he didn't care enough for the pain he got._

 _"You will in time, you have no idea how much depends on you yet, Percy, and you may never know but you'd be dead if not for me or pampered into a selfish, arrogant child and I wasn't going to let that happen." He made it sound like he was the good guy, there were no good guys; the world wouldn't allow it._

 _"It wasn't your call, Asshole, I chose how I live or die, not you, not Kronos, not Zeus and not my own bloody father. This is my chess game,"_

 _"Yes, and you've been upgraded from pawn to queen, you're the prize now, Percy, and Kronos isn't a good loser." As if Percy wasn't completely aware of how things had changed. He wasn't an assassin anymore; he wasn't sure what he was. Not a leader and certainly not a prize (thank you very much). "Take it from the playing board, Percy, this game isn't going to end well," Tartarus warned, light began to slip through the darkness, like long fingers rattling chains. He was too weak to stay much longer, Percy wished he could care for how Kronos made the Primordial suffer but he couldn't conjure the emotion. It was foreign in that moment - lost to him._

 _"I should hope not," Percy shook his head, black locks swung wildly. "I want this to be interesting," he mused._

 _"You sound like a mad man, Percy," Yes, he supposed he did. He didn't want a blood bath or a simple victory. He didn't know what he wanted, to be honest. Sad as it was, he wanted his mother._

 _"I guess I have you to thank for that," the Primordial faded from sight and Percy swayed in his place. He'd never been one from yelling; it was counterproductive. But he wanted to scream until his lungs collapsed. He never got the chance before the world faded, yet again._

Only this time he woke up.

* * *

 **I had so much planned for this chapter that ended up not happening but it will at some point.**

 **So, updates will be slow again because I'm going on holiday soon and I'm kind of angry because my boyfriend dumped me but eh, I don't really care about him anyway.**

 **Sorry. I have a large amount of the next chapter written though already so expect it late this month/ early next month.**

 **Quick question: Percy x Nico or Percy x Thalia**

 **See yah next time champs.**


	25. Chapter 25 - Safe and Sound

**I'm a liar apparently, then. Good to know.**

 **So sorry for the delay, love you all so much, by the way.**

 **Shout outs:**

 **ChrisBMWW155326: Thanks for the compliment and condolence. And your ship is duly noted.**

 **xed17: Thanks, and don't be too sorry; I'll live XD**

 **Guest: I agree with you, I was hesitant to do a pairing anyway so thanks for the suggestion. Thank you so much!**

 **Checkingdude: Percy will always be a lone wolf internally, even in canon, or at least that's how I've always seen him.**

 **DaughterOfPoseidon-HorseLover: Aww thank you so much, I'm always told of for my writing in school so it's nice to know some poeple appreciate it.**

 **Nebular Reaper: That's a fair observation, thanks.**

 **ItsJustABook: Not a pernico shipper then? he he.**

 **ItsJustABook: oh wow i didn't even think about that! Oh that'll be amazing, my god.**

 **Guest: That's true. I mean gods don't have DNA so I guess no one is really related but I can appreciate your concern. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Guest: Crying? I don't think I've really ever made someone cry before, I'll mark it as a success then. Thanks so much. I have tissues if you need them.**

 **Percy is bae: Hey friend. I went to Portugal, which is my favorite country ever, though my Portuguese is awful. Aww yeah, i do like to think of myself as a sassy bitch so yay for savagery. Oh yeah, I do love Solangelo, good point. Haha, that's siblings for you i suppose, hehe. Greece!? You lucky duck, how was it? Thank you so much!**

 **fishes4: Very good points, kudos to you for that. Thank you so much, I love it when people like my characterization!**

 **DemigodSassReaders: Thank you so much.**

 **(Ok a lot of people reviewed as well saying 'percyxnico' or 'percyxthalia' and i want to say a massive thanks, I just dont want to write a response when there is little else to say but you're all amazing and a huge thanks to you all for sticking around)**

* * *

 **NICO**

It took about a minute and a half for Nico to start regretting a few of his life choices, namely the notion that he - The Ghost King - had any idea how to take care of an almost fatally injured person in the middle of Tartarus. For Hades' sake, he couldn't even open a bandage without screwing up somehow. Which made him a monumental idiot, which meant Percy was monumentally screwed.

So: good news all around.

Subconsciously he began twisting his skull ring around his finger only to stop a moment later because how the heck was that productive to anyone?

"Uh…" he darted a glance at the barricaded doorway just in case someone decided to come back and give him a hand, sadly the universe was a cruel place and he was alone. "Percy?" he whispered for no apparent reason as he approached the seemingly unconscious boy.

The only instruction he was left with was to give Percy some soup-type-situation when the boy eventually woke up. Why: he had no clue, but Damasen was adamant that it was essential to Percy's survival. Considering the odorous smell of the lumpy soup, Nico seriously doubted this. But hey, what did he know?

"Could you, uh wake up?" He placed an ashen hand on the boy's shoulder. Nico wasn't sure how Percy had managed to keep his shirt so suspiciously clean. However, it wasn't really a good time to ask about it - which was a pain because curiosity could be likened to a hoard of angry red ants on one's mind.

Percy grunted something unintelligible, typically.

"Uh, it's kind of essential that you open your eyes, like, now… oh um, please," he wasn't groveling, right? Just concerned for a teammate's (friend's?) health, yeah, that was it.

"Come on," he muttered laying his palm on the side of Percy's head (the only place he could reach with Percy's head buried in the furs) unsure what he was really doing, Nico pressed his thumb into the corner of Percy's left eye.

"Go away," Percy moaned at him. Nico felt the equal desire to jump with joy and fold his arms and sulk. Nico leaned in closer, before retracting because it was rather clear that there were no showers or baths in Tartarus. Percy nuzzled into his bed but then fell still again, leaving Nico in a slightly awkward predicament.

For a while, it was like Nico imagined the whole thing. The Percy groaned something again, a whole sentence that time, which would've been great, had Nico managed to catch the whole thing, sadly he only caught one word: "Mum."

'I'm not your mother', Nico thought lowering his eyebrows. Percy let out a shaky breath; it was just shy of a sob really. Stunned, Nico moved his hand away and took a step back, much like how when one sees something extraordinary they take a step back to admire the whole picture. The weird thing was that he had never really seen Percy display any emotions except anger and excitement, and more often than not the two emotions seemed to walk hand-in-hand with one another. The grief in his mumble struck Nico right between his ribs, a place he was sure was devoid of any activity after what happened to Bianca.

Percy made a loud declarative noise that could've been a phrase but it was definitely not in a language that Nico had any familiarity with. The boy bolted upright in his bed of furry things; Nico jerked back, shocked. Percy seemed equally lost as his dark eyes flickered from the bed to the ceiling to Nico.

"Oh, morning," Nico greeted only to mentally slap himself a moment later, 'morning' really? Smooth di Angelo, he thought bitterly.

"Oh, well, hello Nico. Um, long time no see?" Percy stuttered as he shifted the numerous items off his legs so he could sit up. Nico had moved to help before he was fully aware of what was going on.

"You were shot," Nico felt inclined to remind him. Percy's gaze clouded over slightly – a challenge to see in the dark hut.

"And you look me to Damasen," Percy stated in surprise and confusion, though whether the action baffled him or the location, Nico didn't know.

"Ah no, Iapetus did. He found us after Annabeth, you know," he mimed pulling a trigger, which may not have been the nicest thing to do. Yet Percy brightened up.

"Iapetus or Bob?" he asked all but bouncing in his seat. Lost, Nico stared at the boy. Percy stared back, it was awkward, to say the least.

"Shit, did I forget to tell you? My bad," Percy rubbed his head sheepishly before a pain gasp escaped him and he lowered said hand to his wounded side. Oh yeah, wound, right.

"I have soup," Nico declared standing up to grab the bowl that Damasen had left near the fire.

"Oh yay, I was super worried you had cake or something. But soup! Wow," Percy exclaimed in an extremely typical teenage voice. Nico sent him a withering look that he knew his father would be proud of before turning back to the fire. Only it wasn't really a fire anymore; just a few glistening embers.

Nico withheld a gag as he picked up the bowl of soup, the name used as loosely as possible. Plastering a fake smile on his face he turned back to his charge.

Cautiously, Nico lowered himself to sit next to his almost-friend; Percy seemed wholly unfazed by his presence as he stared horrified at the liquid sloshing around.

"Bon appetite," Nico grinned.

* * *

 **PERCY**

Ok, so you know that feet smell bad? Good. Now imagine an enormous foot the size of a university (though Percy was not sure what the eff a 'university' was, his splotchy memory gave him enough to go on). Finally, think about if this foot had been around for millions of years without being washed once.

That was what the soup smelt like, if not worse.

"Bon appetite," was the only warning he got before the abominable substance was transferred into his hands. Percy looked down at the lumpy, grey poison in his palms then transferred his betrayed gaze up to Nico.

"I must've really pissed someone off," he deduced. Nico gave a barely audible snort before relaxing back on his forearms. Like how one would relax to watch a great specter. How rude of him.

"Yeah, well, don't shoot the messenger." Nico huffed. Percy thought that was a rather stupid saying, one: there was no messenger around, technically, and two: he could shoot whoever he bloody well wanted to.

"No promises," Percy warned him reaching down to casually run his fingers along a stray pistol. Nico went pale and gave Percy a pitiful look. Oh.

Oh.

"Ah, so this is the murder weapon then," Percy's teasing grin vanished into the Void leaving an almost afraid look on his face, one that he hoped would never take up residence upon his face again.

"I meant to move it," Nico instantly was reaching down to chuck the weapon who knows where.

"Why it's a perfectly functional weapon - it was made to do was shoot people." His voice hardly wavered, a miracle considering how his heart was pounding in his chest, its tempo that of war drums.

"Ok, I hate to be Thanatos at a funeral but you need to eat."

"What the heck does that mean?" Percy spluttered.

"It means putting the nearest thing to you, like the suspicious stuff in your hands, into your mouth and swallowing it."

"Ok, I have two things to say to you: number one; this stuff is not edible, alright? The bed is more edible than this. And two; Thanatos goes to funerals now?"

"Just eat!" Nico shouted. Percy blinked at him, once, twice and then –

"Sir, yes sir!" Percy glanced down at the liquid that had grown stone cold in his hands. "Uh, not sure if this can be drunk or eaten, to be honest," he admitted eye-balling a floating blob of something-that-should-never-be-in-a-living-being's-mouth.

"Don't make me force feed you," Nico warned, only he clearly wasn't as angry as he was trying to be; the smile on his face was evidence enough.

Percy dropped a cautious finger into the stuff, which made a sound like Medusa getting run over by a stampede of Hellhounds. He then, with a quick prayer to anyone and anything he could think of, popped it into his mouth.

"How's that then?" Nico asked sounding for the world like a proud father teaching his son to ride his first bike. An event that strikes most as liberating (Percy didn't think he ever had a bike) and exciting. However, the soup was certainly not 'liberating' in fact there were a lot of other words that could be used to describe the sticky stuff.

Percy gave the most nonplussed look to the Son of Hades that he could possibly conjure up. Why do you ask? Well:

THE SOUP WAS THE WORST THING THAT HAD EVER TOUCHED HIS TONGUE

There, understand now?

It was lumpy and seemed to be dragging itself down his throat, which closed up like a clam for the sake of survival.

"Oh sweet fucking-" Percy spat at the floor – like any good house (hut?) guest – whilst Nico cackled maliciously. "Oh, why me!?" He bemoaned squeezing his eyes into little knots and thinking happy thoughts.

Like killing Nico. And Iapetus. And Damasen. Oh, and whoever created soup.

"What does it taste like?"

"Hmm let me think… oh, it tastes like Empousai spit mixed with Kronos' underwear, Iapetus' toenails, and Tartarus' cologne."

"Uh, yum?"

"No Nico, not yum."

Half of Percy hoped that Nico would tell him he didn't have to finish the whole thing, yet the look in his babysitter's eyes squashed that hope rather quickly.

"If I die, find Hyperion and tell him I was the one who painted his helmet pink whilst he was sleeping." Percy croaked as he raised the bowl closer to his face. True story, and let's say that Hyperion was far from pleased, though it was most definitely worth it.

"Why did you do that?" Nico asked leaning away from him. Percy turned his body towards him and grinned over the rim of the bowl.

"Because he tried to make me do something I didn't want to do," with that he raised the liquid to his poor lips and took a mouthful. Flavours bombarded him and he gagged and covered his mouth. Nico sat inelegantly next to him, having gotten up to dispose of the gun. The boy cackled ruthlessly. Percy longed to punch him but he was in the middle of, you know, trying not to vomit.

He had hardly made a dent in the overall mass of 'soup' he noted with the most remorseful sigh he had ever conjured. Well, that at least he guessed he could be remedied with little tears, at least from him anyhow.

"Sharing is caring!" Percy announced scooping up a handful of the devil's food and slapped it into Nico's still wide-with-laughter mouth.

The effect was instantaneous; Nico's eyes went worryingly wide before he began spitting onto the floor, much like Percy had only moments ago. Percy began to laugh and then found he couldn't stop the hysterics bubbling up his throat.

"Percy, I want to make this abundantly clear to you," Nico growled, still doubled over in disgust, Percy's laughs began to leave him in peace, "if you weren't injured then you would be a rotting corpse right now, got it?"

"Oh Nico, Nico, Nico," Percy shook his head, his laughter lost to the Void. "If I weren't injured then I'd be receiving a postcard from Thanatos at your funeral, you copy?"

Nico gave a remorseful sigh; one that Percy thought could lead to either a truce or an apocalypse, hard to tell which. "Look, let's just throw the rest away then, alright. Admit defeat."

Percy's right eye gave a weird twitch. Because admitting defeat at a bowl of soup was not a thing he'd ever imagined he'd have to do, no matter how foul the stuff was. Also, wasn't the soup supposed to help him or something? It was medicine, wasn't it?

He glanced down at the bowl, it beheld just about three more mouthfuls or poison; he could handle it.

"Being shot hurt, di Angelo, this is nothing." Truth be told, he hardly remembered the bullet except for a second of paralyzing agony. Pain was pain, no matter how big or small.

Nico watched with wide eyes as Percy tipped the stuff to his cracked lips and chugged, like a student during fresher's week at university. For a while, Percy thought that he would manage it in one go, but then that notion seriously got the crap beaten out of it.

He gagged and careened forward so that his head was between his knees. Was that an eyeball? It sure as heck had the texture of one – it even did the pop in his mouth that they were renowned for! How did Percy know this? Well, now that was a very long story.

Nico was saying something, probably unimportant as Percy heaved. The soup didn't do much except make his head swim with disgust. His abdomen still screamed at him, slightly dimmed by the nope, nope, nope coming from his stomach.

Half a mouthful that was all that was left: he could handle it. He was fine, he was fine, and he was fine, fine, fine.

* * *

 **THALIA**

"I'm no therapist but I'm gonna assume that there is someone that Percy is mad at," Thalia assessed, sending a not so subtle look Annabeth's way.

"Grow up, Thals," Annabeth scowled at her. Anger bubbled in Thalia's brain but she sent away.

"It's your funeral, remember?" Thalia asked monotonously, Annabeth gave no visible reaction but the shadows closest to her seemed to shudder with laughter, and not the nice kind.

"Guys, come on let's save it for after school," Jason rolled his eyes at them, Thalia was so proud.

"Correct, Grace," Iapetus nodded his head at Jason, who didn't blush or stutter – he just nodded like a wise old wizard.

The walls around them rumbled once again, like someone trying to turn on a lawn mower; having to pull that cord over and over again. Thalia shuddered and wiped her eyes, come on Thalia, keep it together.

They needed to move, that much was obvious, but finding a destination was a whole different matter. For what must have been the first time in nearly a year, Thalia missed Luke. Sure he was an angry person, and more often than not Thalia had gotten irritated over his endless talk of 'the new gods' and 'out with the old and in with the youth'. Yet he was resourceful and level-headed in sticky situations, and Thalia missed that.

No one spoke for a long time – a relief. Then Damasen gave a curse, one that Thalia stowed away for later. "He's not coming for us!"

"What?" Iapetus blinked at his friend. Thalia stared at Damasen, a pit opening in her stomach. Oh, was that a pun? Pit = Tartarus? She'd ask Percy when she saw him next; he was good with puns.

"He saw us here dilly-dallying and came to a rather obvious conclusion." Iapetus made a go-on motion with his hands but Thalia had already figured it out.

"Percy isn't with us." She whispered.

Shit.

* * *

 **NICO**

Nico wasn't sure whether to punch Percy or get on his knees in respect, neither seemed entirely appropriate given the situation.

"Nico," Percy whispered, voice rough as sandpaper. Nico turned to him.

"Yeah,"

"What's that smell," Nico thought that Percy was joking, given that the only thing that he could smell was the poorly named soup. Except it wasn't, there was another thing just lingering beneath it.

"It smells like flesh," Percy muttered, looking dead ahead. Nico followed his gaze to the barricaded door.

"Rotten flesh," Nico corrected with a dawning sense of horror.

* * *

 **THALIA**

"We have to go back!" Thalia shouted at Iapetus, who did the oh-so-kind with of ignoring her. Thalia gnawed on her lower lip before stealing herself and marching right up into the Titan's face. "Take. Us. Back."

"It's too late," Damasen answered. Though Thalia wasn't remotely interested in what the Giant had to say, her focus was on the so-called friend of Percy's and him alone.

"TAKE US BACK!" She shouted raising her fist, at her side Piper made an aborted move towards her. To support or to restrain, that was the question.

"Thalia," Piper's voice was lava, and Thalia was Pompeii, ready to be burnt. "Stand down."

"You said that he'd be safe," Thalia ignored the fire, instead opting to glare at a being older than she'd ever be able to comprehend.

"He's never known 'safe', Thalia Grace." Iapetus spat. "And thanks to you lot, he never will."

* * *

 **PERCY**

"We need to go," Nico noted. Percy turned to him, furious.

"Oh, you don't eff-ing say?" He felt kind of bad; Nico had been nothing but helpful and a tad annoying.

"I thought they couldn't get here!" Nico spluttered as Percy stood, the soup still clutch in the crook of his arm. He wasn't going to let it go, he knew it would be a weapon if needed.

"I didn't think they could," Percy admitted. Damasen had always been adamant that his dwelling was the safest place in Tartarus, and that Percy was always to go there if he needed to recuperate himself for a while. Did he lie? No, Damasen was many things but he'd never lied to Percy.

"I don't understand," Nico shook his head ruefully, "I thought that Kronos couldn't find you anymore. I thought you, you know, broke the chain," Percy wished that Nico would understand without him needed to say it allowed. He wished a great many things.

"A dog may rip the leash out of its owner's hand," Percy shrugged reaching down for a bow (of the only weapon in the vicinity was a bow, what with his luck), "but it's still only free until it's too tired to run any longer."

Nico drew a dark looking sword, only that he ran his hand down, like waking a sleeping dragon for its slumber. "Are you ok to fight?"

It took a couple heartbeats to realize that the question was directed at Percy, not Nico's sword. "I don't really have a choice do I?" The squelch of armored boats in the water got louder until it drowned out Percy's thoughts.

Nico raised his arm, whilst Percy knocked an arrow. They must've looked quite the pair, what with Percy barely able to support his own weight and Nico skeletal as an old king.

"You have no choice, but that doesn't mean we'll lose," Nico's voice was a force to be reckoned with, Percy decided.

"Someone must lose, di Angelo." Percy reasoned, breathing already more uneven than he liked.

"So someone must win too, Raider."

Raider never lost a fight; Raider couldn't feel the phantom pain of a wound.

Raider would tear Nico apart, but what choice did they have, risks were risks no matter how calculated they were made out to be.

The door splintered like a fist in glass, and so it began.

Nico didn't move to strike yet, but by his side, Percy released arrow after arrow as glowing eyes peered at them through new cracks. He must've shot twenty by the time Nico finally decided to lend a hand and slashed at the molten flesh reaching for them.

"What the Hades are these things?" Nico shouted. Percy didn't have the breath to berate him for using a god's name before his quiver ran out and he cursed instead.

"No clue," His voice was strained at the inky fingers of Raider caressed the back of his mind, Raider wanted to do this, that much was clear. Heck, Percy and Raider were so similar it was hardly worth giving his other conscious another name. Percy 2.0 wanted to lead for once, there that was a better name.

"Hold on a sec," Nico instructed whilst Percy swung a bundle of who knows what at the door, still standing protectively over his almost finished bowl of slime.

"Holding on!" Percy shouted back as he continued to throw things at the skeletal hands reaching for them, a few minutes; that was all they had left.

"There's water outside!" Nico screamed at him as he swiped at a rouge hand. Well thanks for the update, Percy thought bitterly before it struck him. Ah, well, that was rather convenient.

Percy reached deep for that familiar feeling of home and safety that he always felt when he used his powers; he fought to find that salty breeze that accompanied it.

He let out a roar at the whole building shuddered as the hands suddenly recoiled back. Outside there was a sound that would most certainly be heard during a battle between gods and monsters.

Nico, being an awful lot closer to the door than Percy was, let out a string of curses.

Percy, guided by some otherworldly instinct, scooped up his discarded, but miraculously in-tack bowl and drank the final drops of liquid. However, he didn't swallow it, not even as he felt His presence, one that always came with the promise of humiliation and scars.

Nico stumbled back until the two of them were shoulder to shoulder against Him.

Percy's mouth began to burn, times up, he thought as he spat the liquid back into the bowl. Nico gave him a very weird look.

He should've had more faith, really. After all, in the bowl there was no longer the most hideous thing known to them. Instead, there was a supernatural-green substance, also known as their salvation.

"Holy shit," Nico breathed. "Is that-?"

"Yeah," Percy interrupted as he heard the footsteps get closer and closer. "Greek Fire,"

The most destructive military weapon known the man, maybe Iapetus was smarter than Percy thought.

* * *

 **Pacing was a bit off in this chapter, but eh I'm tired to it'll do. And let's just pretend that Greek Fire is less common than it seems to be in canon, because its really awesome and i dont want it over used.**

 **Ok, sorry again for the delay, I've been so busy. Next one will be faster I promise. Some dark stuff is gonna go down in the next few chapter so if you have any concerns drop a comment and I'll try to sort it out, but i want to emphasis that Kronos is his fathers son, and that means that Percy isn't gonna get away with what he's done.**

 **Anyone else pumped for Ship of the Dead, because I sure as hell am! I fricking love the Magnus Chase books.**


	26. Chapter 26 - Burning Heart

**Guess who's still alive? Not me, that's for sure. There's really no point me apologizing; you're probably all used to the pathetic delays ever chapter now, right? All i can say is this: I don't like GSCEs.**

 **Shout-outs:**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: Oops, sorry about the onslaught of information there. Thanks.**

 **Tom Holland is my life: (relatable u** **ser name, mate) ahhhh, that makes sense. Hello then.**

 **917brat: aw thanks so much! Well, I'm proud (ish) to give you more to read then. I can offer a semi-happy ending but it wouldn't be fun with out some dire consequences and plot-twists, right?**

 **guest: the wait is over.**

* * *

 **NICO**

The liquid shone like emeralds.

The wooden bowl somehow seemed unfit, somehow, to hold the ancient substance. Greek Fire was no myth, of course Nico knew this, yet it was as unfamiliar to him as the Northern Lights: he knew they existed and what they looked like but had never actually seen them.

Percy, on the other hand, seemed to have a completely different view on the importance of caring for the precious substance; he was playing a one-man game of Hot Potato as he juggled the bowl precariously from hand to hand. Proclaiming, "Hot, Hot!" all the while.

It was tempting to put Percy out of his misery by taking the bowl from him. However, the general crashing of armored boots on the doormat outside stilled his tongue. He needed to come up with a plan, and fast.

"I've got nothing," he woefully informed his companion. Percy looked up at him with a single raised eyebrow.

"You had one job, Nico." Percy shook his head at him, "one job."

Nico clicked his tongue and tightened his grip on his sword. The rough leather of the hilt seemed to be the only part of Tartarus that was familiar and comforting. Nico imagined that Clarisse, the hot-headed daughter of Ares, would have a ball down there.

Part of Nico was trying to project the simple message to Percy that he, Nico, was armed and Percy was not (aside from a bowl that he couldn't even hold steadily for more than a couple of seconds).

A bang echoed through the hut as an armoured fist came in contact with the door, once, twice, thrice. The fire in the centre of the room retreated down under the tinder.

Percy was deadly still, despite the steam rising from his hand as the calloused skin charred away. In that moment time had stopped, whether that was literal or metaphorical wasn't important, or really known.

Another two knocks - they were like the clang of shackles against cobblestone.

"You think me foolish?" whispered a voice. It was fingernails on a chalkboard; it was the screech of a guillotine.

"That depends," Percy smirked. No fear lingered behind his words, even as the few remaining embers in the hearth and in the torches dotted around the wall flickered and then died.

Nico looked over at his one hope at survival and saw no one. Yes, a person stood there with the skin of someone Nico was sure he knew but the person within was most definitely not Percy. The person had a crescent smirk adoring its lips, had its hair pulled back behinds its ears and was immune the burns of the Fire.

The person was Raider. Nico honestly never thought he would be so pleased to see him.

The door opened at a torturous pace and seared Nico's mind with the radiant glow of pure gold - a glow that had no place in such a damned place.

"Depends on what exactly?" Kronos asked his eyes pinned on his wayward ward.

"Why are you here, Kronos?" Raider demanded.

The Lord laughed softly running a hand along a hanging tapestry of what looked like the skin of a cow (though it was probably something much worse, Nico didn't want to speculate too much) he left a trail of rotten flesh in its wake. Nico gulped but once again Raider was unmoveable as an undisturbed swimming pool.

"What are you holding there?" Kronos asked with a pseudo-tone of naivety.

"Greek Fire," Raider replied instantly. Worryingly, Raider seemed unaware of exactly what he was supposed to do with his weapon. He had a far-off look on his face which was either nonchalance or deep thought; Nico personally hoped for the latter.

"Clever."

"Leave us alone," Nico snarled at the man. The dark-haired man turned to look at him and Nico was star-struck with the glaring similarities between Kronos beauty and the Gods'. The Big Three had all inherited their father's dark hair and sharp features.

"I don't like you or your father much, Ghost King. And I don't presume to take orders from you or your bastard friends," snarled Kronos. At the mention of his friends, Nico panicked. Where were they? If Kronos had found out that they were still at the Damasen's then either their ploy hadn't been good enough (which was likely) of the others had been caught (not outside the realm of possibility either).

"I imagine that the feeling is mutual, Lordie." Raider's smile was back again, carefree but as far from legitimate as Olympus was from the Underworld. The boy was perched back on his makeshift bed; Nico wondered whether his wound was still causing him issues – he sure as Hades hoped not.

"You dare?" Kronos turned to Raider, hackles raised. The focus of the Lord's rage simple wafted a hand at the far more powerful foe, the way a mother would brush off a young child grappling for attention. The smell of Greek Fire – pretty much the same small a gasoline but with a grease undertone – was pungent in the room. He wondered exactly where the bowl had gone as he realised the Raider had managed to lose said bowl, fantastic.

"I dare," Raider stood up with far more grace that Percy would've ever been able to manage. He stalked up to Kronos and stared up at him – the boy was much shorter, yet it didn't make him seem inadequate against the Titan.

Nico watched, fascinated, as the boy seemed to be reborn right before his eyes as Percy returned from whatever excursion he'd been on and darted to Nico and pushed him forcefully against a wall.

"NOW!"

Percy's shout resounded through the walls of Tartarus, down into every crack; every crevice. A doorway opened up behind Nico: the scratching wall softened into nothing but pure warmth and then a chill that had nothing to do with the heat. The last thing he saw was the victory scorching Percy's face as Nico fell away from the war.

His awareness came back to him slowly as if someone was walking around and flicking ever light switch, one by one until the house came alive. He became aware of the smooth marble-like floor beneath him. Nico was splayed out across the floor just as he had landed before – on his back with his head limp to his shoulder.

A hint of sound came next, the deep rumbling sound kin to the wailing of a great piece of machinery. Finally came his sight (there as little to smell, after all). Eyelids struggled to open, it was an obnoxiously difficult feat, but it happened and was disappointed as all that was above him was oblivion. The sky was midnight black with no colours to give any incline as to its beginning and end. The floor wasn't marble but shone like glass despite its purple hue and slightly coarse texture.

"What the heck, Percy?" Nico demanded of the empty space. He felt like he was in a large empty warehouse, except he was supposed to be in Tartarus so how…

"Now, don't let him take all the credit," a voice came from the dark, chuckling. Nico pivoted on his heel and positioned his sword in a defensive stance across his chest. Nothing happened, disappointingly.

"I mean you no harm, especially after how inconvenient it was for me to bring you here, boy." The voice was colder than before but still had a distinct wariness to it that made Nico feel a little bit of pity. (Only a little bit though, no heartfelt moments were going on inside the Ghost King, none at all.)

"Straight answer, please," Nico pleaded, beyond exhausted.

"Alright then, concise to the point; I like that. Now, I am sure you have heard of me by now. Honestly, I would be very concerned and offended if you hadn't so I'll kindly leave that bit out for you." Damn it. "I know Percy well, I have done since he arrived here and so I put him in charge of something of unfathomable importance to me and through some strange events over the past few hours he's begun to figure out exactly what I entrusted him with. Suddenly he has decided himself a master barterer, which is how you ended up here."

Nico had to run the words through his head too many times before he sort of developed an understanding.

"He told me that in order to keep this possession from the hands of those that would do it harm I had to bring you here and let you decide what to do next," the man finished.

"Ok, stupid question but who are you?" Nico inquired, finding that that piece of information was actually pretty damn important to his comprehension of the messed up reality he had been pushed into.

Another chuckle, this one old and croaky; a man stepped into his view seemingly forming from the vast dark itself. He was taller than Nico by a good few feet but it was ruined by a tremendous hunch in his back as an elderly man of at least a hundred mortal years wobbled to stand in front of him. Although he seemed to be more bone and scar than flesh and blood; more decay than man.

A white beard obscured the majority of his torso from view as it dangled down to crotch-level. The elder's eyes were black pits and his face was marred by scars and what looked like ancient acne – that, at least, Nico could relate to. His clothes were as old as he was, so much so that he could have said he was wearing a pillowcase and Nico would believe him immediately.

"I still don't recognise you," Nico admitted. The man smiled a chasm of fragmented teeth, Nico winced internally.

"I'm glad you don't - it would be very destructive to my self-esteem." Despite his body being rotten, the voice was silk in a garden of glass. "I should introduce myself I suppose. Young man, I am Tartarus, it's a pleasure to speak with you."

Well crap, Nico thought as he stuttered out random words because Tartarus was further up the godly food chain than Nico had ever really considered.

"Don't worry yourself, young man. I am but a fragment of myself and clearly pose no real threat to you." The man soothed.

"How are you –why are you-uh I mean," Nico continued to ramble until the old man raised a bony hand to stop him. Nico flushed as the primordial smiled at him, amused.

"I don't have time for that, fortunately. Now, let's move on to more pressing matters." Suddenly the darkness seemed to press in on Nico's lungs, clogging his windpipes and labouring his breath. "I am dying, Nico di Angelo, and I need you and your friends to save me."

Nico nodded along but didn't have any real understanding but he could already feel the weight of the words on his slumping shoulders.

"Kronos and his hellions have purged me of my power and my life and even now I have little left for myself. He does this for power, uncaring of the fact he is digging his own tomb day after day." Bitterness with the sweetness of vinegar thought Nico as the man raged.

"He needs to be stopped, and I think you and your gang are perfect for the job." Decided Tartarus, Nico felt faint.

"I don't think-"

"I hope you are bright enough to realise the importance of what you are doing and how you are doing work that will save millions of lives, di Angelo." A bush eyebrow raised in his direction: Nico contemplated fanning himself.

"Ok, well then, if I'm… if we're going to do this then I want you to tell me, clear as you can, exactly what we have to do." Nico bargained. But Tartarus' eyes lit up so the Primordial appeared to have taken that as a 'yes'.

"You need to get Percy and explain the situation to him and he'll take the thing that I gave him to my heart, and he'll know what to do from there."

Their quest sounded remarkable easy; Nico could feel the 'but' coming.

"But the way is haunted by Kronos' forces and they don't want you to fix me, di Angelo, so be vigilant. Your destination is a dead zone, so it won't be easy, so have faith."

"'Dead zone'?" Nico repeated, lost. "What the heck is that?" The primordial gave him a very adult grin. The kind that always implied that they knew something that the youth before them didn't; Nico hated that look.

"You'll see once you get there. I fear that any description I give you will do little to enlighten you but will be very helpful in the art of scaring you away."

"Oh," Nico mumbled, rubbing his suddenly quivering arms. "Well, I guess there's little to do except send me back to Percy,"

Tartarus' bushy eyebrow lowered as he regarded Nico with slight trepidation. "Be careful, Nico di Angelo, this place may look like nothing but a nightmare but I warn you now – don't let that façade fool you for a moment. This place is real and so are its consequences. I understand that you want to take Percy with you when you leave, but in doing so you release a monster upon your world." Each world echoed through Nico's brain as if he were standing in an impossible long tunnel with Tartarus at the entrance and light at the exit.

"He's not like them," Nico denied. Percy wasn't entirely sane but he wasn't a demon either; he wasn't a monster. "He's helped us more times than I can count and-"

"You lot are all the same," Tartarus shook his head mournfully. "You see a pretty face and a dazzling smile and think that he's divine." Nico tried to argue again but before he could Tartarus' face clouded over with horror and the rebuttal promptly died on Nico's tongue.

"What is it?" Nico asked instead.

"He's gone,"

* * *

 **PERCY**

"NOW!" Percy screamed, giving Nico a well-deserved shove into the wall which opened up as required and swallowed the son of Hades whole. Kronos moved forward to grab Nico but even his powers over Time couldn't stop the gateway from closing. (Percy – 1/ Kronos – 0 (nil pwa))

Percy cheered throwing his hands up into the air. He had known instantly that Kronos' plan was to capture Percy and Nico and use the latter to blackmail the other demigods into a trap (prison). It was so typically Kronos so Percy had managed to outwit him, again.

"You brat, you play with things you don't understand." Kronos' voice was dark as his soul. The Titan Lord had both his hands planted on the wall that Nico had vanished through as was leaning on it. Fury rolled off him in waves yet Percy didn't feel frightened, he felt adrenaline burning through his veins (and his stomach but that was probably just the result of swallowing the poison that Iapetus and Damasen had concocted).

Percy tried to rest his hands on his hips but the sudden hiss of pain from his hands stopped that plan pretty quickly. Instead, he had to stand awkwardly with his hands hanging uselessly by his sides.

"I know what I'm doing, my lord," Percy mock bowed even though the other couldn't see him. "I've joined the great Game, and I think I just won that round." Kronos spun around to face him, eyes aflame.

Outside the hut, another dozen splashed resounded, so Kronos brought some of his entourage – Percy was flattered. Only then did he hear the other sound; like rocks crumpling but colder somehow. As soon as he noticed the sound other observations came to his attention too: the temperature had dropped until Percy could see his own breath, little wisps that were lucky enough to vanish soon after being born. All the lights had long since vanished and the soothing rumble of Tartarus that usually followed him everywhere was suddenly lethally silent.

"What are you doing?" Percy whispered to the Titan. Kronos didn't reply, he merely grinned at him and listened also to the crumbling outside.

"What does it look like, Perseus?"

"It looks like a bunch of green trees sparkling with golden glitter, oh and puppies are leaping about over a ground of marshmallows," Percy answered with 100% guaranteed honesty. Kronos looked at him for the longest time with a straight face; Percy felt his lips twitch dangerously but refused to back down.

"Lovely," Kronos deadpanned. He was remarkably calm today. His eyes were still blazing a lot but his posture was chilled and he wasn't wearing his usual black and gold armour. Instead, the Titan seemed to have opted for some dark trousers and a t-shirt that showed off his golden-veined arms and his bulging muscles (show-off). Percy personal felt like it was all a hoax – that Kronos couldn't have possibly planned on taking him out with nothing but his sword strapped to his hip and a silver tongue.

"Your move," Percy called to him and those that stood with him. His voice was loud and strong against the foggy lull of the swamp.

"Alright," Kronos agreed easily.

Every Titan, God and Giant had a specific aura, one that was easy to identify as theirs so long as you were perceptive enough to sense it properly. He had been taught by Iapetus to be able to distinctly identify everyone's separate aura as it was a clue to when someone was using their powers.

Kronos' was a strong scent of antiques, like the old sent that clung to second-hand items no matter how many times they were cleaned and a strong odour of leather as well. In the moment the world absolutely reeked of it.

The world spun to a halt as Kronos sashayed forwards with practised ease, Percy tried to move away but he wasn't strong enough (a wounding fact) to outplay the Titan in his own field.

So, helpless as a new-born, Percy was snatched up by a hand around his neck and pushed harshly into the wall behind him. Percy chocked as Kronos squeezed at his throat with one hand. Instincts kicked in a moment later and his lashed out with all four limbs.

His legs sought out Kronos' precious jewels in order to give him a good kick there but with his vision swiftly going dark, it was hard to find. Eventually, his legs began to go limp which left his arms to finish the job.

Again, fighting off a Titan was rather difficult when one couldn't breathe. Kronos' hand tightened in warning as Percy tried to pry it off his throat. He made a wet gurgling sound as his insides flopped from lack of air.

"Stop," he wheezed, burying his nails deep into the flesh of Kronos' wrists into ichor ran in rivers down his hands. In his chest his lungs shuddered helplessly, 'hold on' he prayed to them, 'just a bit longer'.

"What's the problem, Percy? You have a fortunate habit of being reborn every time you're slain. Like a cat with nine lives," the Titan's voice was low, or maybe that was Percy's own senses betraying him again.

'Not anymore!' Percy wanted to shout but he couldn't. He was dying, and that was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. His arms softened around Kronos' wrists and slowly went slack on top of Kronos'.

How could this be his end? After everything that he'd done, after all that had been done to him? A wisp of awareness tickled the back of his mind as his heart lurched towards the swampy waters beyond the hut door. For a moment it seemed helpless; he couldn't sense the water anywhere, probably a repercussion of his fatigue and near-death state.

Then he felt it, it was like soft paws pressing on the back of an armoured chest plate – it was hardly noticeable but that didn't make it any less real. Whatever had happened to the water outside wasn't a permanent ailment to his powers but a temporary paralysis (he could be a doctor, totally).

The water felt hard and clumsy. It felt strangely solid and restrained though that wasn't enough to stop its internal battle as it sought to free itself.

Kronos' plan was yet again brilliant but heavily flawed. He must've brought one of his ice controlling slaves with him in an attempted to cut him off from any chance of escape. Kronos, however, was a dipshit and had failed to realise the rules didn't apply down in Tartarus. So, in summary, ice and water were the same damn with and Percy was not anywhere as near as helpless as he had convinced himself to be.

An embarrassing wheeze tore from his swelling throat as he forced his eyes to open completely so he could see the look on Kronos' face when he realised just how foolish he was being. Yet Kronos (the bastard) seemed to notice an anomaly in Percy's reaction and pulled Percy off the wall before throwing him violently at the door that was somehow still intact (good craftsmanship, Damasen).

Percy hacked vigorously and cupped his bruised neck with his scared palm, the combination of breathlessness and sizzling flesh made him gasp. The sound only aggravated his throat more. Before he could get himself out of the endless cycle of pain, Kronos had lurched forward and planted a strong kick to his ribs, sending him flying back into the wall.

"You're pathetic, Perseus, seems even my influence wasn't enough to cleanse you of the weakness you inherit from your idiot father," Kronos hissed. Percy tried to lift his head to glare at the other but the action sent his head spinning all the way through the universe so he let it fall limply to the ground again.

He wanted to give up, submit, fail – mock him, go ahead but the pain and the exhaustion was building up rapidly and it was hard to not just give in. He didn't, just because he was sick of Kronos acting like he was the best thing in the world when he was akin to a pile of shit compared to some of the people Percy had met.

So, he got off his ass and took a stand. His legs shook like tectonic plates before a great earthquake (how did he know all this? Bloody amnesia, go die in a hole), yet they were stable enough to support him as he stood strong against the bastard.

"Ooh, what are you going to do to me, Perseus?" Kronos cackles gleefully. He raised his hand towards Kronos, feeling that familiar build-up of energy, of power.

"You are your own worst enemy, Kronos. I hope heaven treats you well," (he was well aware, by the way, that Kronos would not be going to Heaven, Elysium, Valhalla or wherever the good people go).

The walls exploded around them as Percy released a guttural roar from deep in his lungs. Kronos was thrown across the room (ha, hurts doesn't it asshole) and into the chaos as wall-debris smashed to the ground. Hundreds of jars and ornaments were lost to the destruction as Percy's own aura quivered around the hut. The ceiling split open and sunk revealing the deep red roof of Tartarus' appendix – his current location, clever.

The coal from the fire screamed against the burning cold of hundreds of shard of ice piercing through the air. The only area left unaffected was a small area around Percy –stabbing himself with ice would have been highly counterproductive to his predicament.

After a few more seconds of disaster, only a bowl was left of the hut. The rest was a ring-shaped pile of wood, pottery and Kronos. The Titan was grunting underneath the mounds but Percy couldn't go much to him as his lungs collapsed in his chest and his legs gave up. He had just enough will reaming to crawl forward to grab a bowl that had been safely tucked away underneath the cauldron in the centre of the room.

He clasped the bowl with golden-tinted fingers and blew on it gently, somehow igniting the flames. He listed that victory down as pure luck. With a headache to rival the birth of Athena and anger to rival the God Lysaa, Percy threw the blazing bowl out towards Kronos' followers.

Monsters, giants and perhaps a Titan or two all started to shout as the green fire grew swiftly to a destructive size.

Percy slumped over onto his side and gazed out, a darkening sheen slithering across his eyes. Ashes rained down on him, slowly burying him alive. Percy watched with mild interest as the fire dominated the beings outside and burnt them all to Hades.

He laughed slightly despite his throat's protest and closed his eyes. There he lay – within a pile of death as the fires outside burnt, burnt and burnt; too exhausted to fight and too breathless to breathe.

The last thought he recalled before he blacked-out was the sweet irony of it all. "Burn in hell, Assholes," he croaked.

* * *

 **Well there you have it ladies and gentleman, a short chapter with minute editing and an awful lot of grammar error. Tada!**

 **The next chapter deals with some serious themes so beware, ok?**

 **Question: Do you think Percy has a middle name or not? I think he does but my friend says he doesn't. Any thoughts?**


	27. Chapter 27 - Secrets and Lies

**I'm so sorry. Life became a bulldozer and since I am not Hercules I wasn't able to deal with it. But here I am and here is a chapter that was a pain in my backside for the longest time.**

 **S** **hout-outs**

 **Tom Holland is my life: Perseus Jim Jackson. Yeah that's quite a good one, thanks. Sorry for the delay.**

 **ItsJustABook: I will try to, promise. Yes the pairing is decided, not gonna tell yet though; I need some kind of suspense after all. Hmm yeah I have to: Perseus Achilles Jackson... cruel name to give a dyslexic child, poor Percy.**

 **CrispenRaptitties: hmm maybe, maybe not. hehe.**

 **FamilyBuisness1854: Aww thanks, hope it doesn't disappoint.**

 **Tooshyrightnow: interesting name. OMGs I hope that happens; it would be hilarious, especially if it was something really embarrassing XD**

 **DemigodSassReaders: Thanks. Does this count as soon?**

* * *

 **PERCY**

The funny thing about being unconscious is that you don't dream. Obviously sometimes when you fall asleep you don't have a dream or don't remember it for some weird psychological reason. But when you are unconscious it's like someone simply pressed stop, rendering your brain useless.

So, when Percy woke up it wasn't entirely his fault that he had absolutely no idea where he was or what the heck he was doing.

All he registered was that he was exhausted, and everything hurt right down to the marrow in his bones. His nerves sparked in agony in places he hadn't even known that they could inhabit. He was almost certain that he could feel pain in his bloody (literally) fingernails.

In short: he felt like he'd been trampled by a herd of hellhounds, then eaten by the Minotaur before being regurgitated into the Phlegethon.

Not to mention the fact he'd woken up in some weird reality where everything looked like dirt. Maybe he'd been cursed so that he lost his sight as well as his sanity, either that or he was looking at the ground. Hard to tell which was more likely all things considered – like the fact that he really should be no more than a pile of ashes after unleashing the most dangerous substance known to Gods and monsters alike – not mortals; they thought that it was a myth, idiots.

Suddenly something latched onto the scruff of his neck and began to lift him up. Years of training kicked in and Percy informed his body that now would be the time to start struggling in order to prevent being kidnapped. However, his body was like a disobedient child, so it did not do as it was told in favour of going into 'ragdoll' mode, helpful, really. All he could do was release a very unattractive grunt and allow the thing that grabbed him to let out a rough, distinctly male chuckle at his weak state.

Now if Percy had been more than twenty percent alive in that moment then maybe he would've recognised that laugh and realised that it was the beginning of the end. He may have been more motivated to fight back but instead, he let himself get dragged without a lick of gentleness or care from his captor over the smouldering lands that were the remains of the battlefield.

At some point, he must've either passed out again or simply fallen asleep out of sheer boredom. Because, honestly, where was the fun in being manhandled across a desolate wasteland like a sack of puppies about to be drowned in a river? That may not have been the best analogy for the situation considered he was a singular Percy, so it was impossible for him to collectively represent a whole sack of puppies (this stuff was important, ok?). Also, he wasn't sure that it was possible to drown him considering the identity of good old papa.

When he came back around his head was throbbing as if someone had stuffed it full of burning red wires instead of actual veins and muscle and whatever other slimy innards made up one's brain. Whoever was dragging him had evidently grown sick of kneeling down to drag him by his neck and was instead using mop of hair on top of his head as an impromptu handle, which hurt, quite a lot actually.

The change meant that Percy had no skin left on his knees or the entire front of his shins. His legs felt sticky and stung painfully. His nose and eyes both still tingled with the lingering wisps of smoke even though they must've travelled near enough to a mile away from the disaster site. Potentially that meant he'd gone a tad overboard with the Greek Fire and, as a result, had burnt the entirety of the underground dungeon to the ground. Which would be a pretty big fuck up on his part, even if it had been all an accident (sort of) and was all Iapetus' fault anyway for giving him a bowl of ingredients and a hut made of wood (stupid Titan).

Gracelessly he was dropped to lie flat on his face, prompting more than a couple curse words from his lips. His captor ones again let out a chiselled laugh, it was a sound like someone repeatedly dragging a metal blade down a porcelain surface – easily the most irritating sound in the world.

Percy was kicked onto his back by the asshole above him. In an act of resistance, he squawked and lashed out at his attacker, fully prepared to deliver a swift kick between the legs. Only to then tragically remember the unfortunate state of this lower legs and to whimper (shut up) a heartbeat later.

"I have to say after three years apart I was expecting a warmer welcome." The voice droned. The accent wasn't particularly similar to Percy's own but nor was it quite as accented as most of the long-term residents of Tartarus, so just a visitor then?

"Three years?" Percy repeated. Or, well, that was what he tried to say – it sounded a lot more like 'fired bears', which was pretty tragic.

"Must've been," the voice confirmed. Percy wracked his brain trying to think of anyone who he had been without contact with for such a long time. None came to mind; in Tartarus it wasn't uncommon for monster or Titans to suddenly disappear off after years of never going far.

After all, all monsters followed a very repetitive thought process once arriving in Tartarus: where? how? who? when?

Exhibit A: Where am I? How did I get here? Who killed me? When can I eat them?

Exhibit B: Where are they? How should I kill them? Who do they think they are? When can I kill them?

"…are you listening to me?" the voice surged forward and pressed a dainty foot the size of a lake to Percy's neck. The result was a wet gagging sound that Percy was never going to let down, no joke; it was really embarrassing. Kind of the sound you'd expect a slug to make after it realised that that thing rolling towards him/her was, in fact, a tyre.

The pressure on his neck made it impossible for Percy to get a good look at his enemy – a name he was sure belonged to the man now – in the eye so he instead let his head loll back on to the ground.

"Look at me, Raider!" The man screamed and suddenly Percy was being mounted by someone. Practically every life lesson flashed before his eyes and so Percy wisely started to thrash against the weight on his chest.

"Get off of me!" Percy shouted. Above him, a soft chuckle echoed down through the weight on his thighs and Percy panicked. Not that he wasn't in a state of panic before but then it had been more of an 'oh dear' kind of panic but when the guy began to try to pin Percy completely to the ground he hit full throttle panic mode.

Curse words bloomed on his lips like thorny roses while his body flopped and flailed like a fish on the deck of a ship. Above him, his assailant seemed to view his futile attempts as enthusiasm.

"Get off me!" Percy shouted, his voice cracked on every word prompting more laughter. Percy was certain that the guy knew that their situation was far from consensual, yet there was no care in the guy as there was no fish in the Dead Sea.

"Calm down," dark. The voice was so dark and so bloody normal. Percy would bet his left arm that the person was human, probably not mortal, but human nonetheless. And that fact alone was enough to trigger enough recognition for him to get a fairly good idea at exactly who the creep was.

That bastard.

* * *

 **THALIA**

"Alright calm down, di Angelo." Thalia hissed as Nico continued to blubber on about Primordials and death and all those lovely reunion goodies. Nico shut up but continued his path; seven steps forward, pivot and then seven steps back – continuous as clockwork.

"I can't 'calm down', Thalia." Nico sighed. Thalia raised an unimpressed eyebrow in his direction as she finally gave in and dropped her sack to the ground, wincing at the echoing sound in made across the unpopulated landscape.

Jason took a step towards her as she made to slap Nico across the face. As if her brother somehow already knew her intentions, he said: "That's not going to help anyone."

Thalia screwed up her face as she regarded him scornfully. "Well it would help me," Jason gave her an unimpressed look, "I'm stressed." She implored.

"You're not stressed, you're just hungry for a fight," Dr Grace diagnosed. Thalia stuck her tongue out at him before twisting past him and stalking up to her ridiculous fool of a cousin. She grabbed him by the collar of that stupid coat he always wore and tugged his face closer to her own. The angle did little to flatter either of their appearances but that was hardly her priority.

"Listen here you cretin – we all want to bail on this place and I'm sure that it would be really fucking nice to bring Poseidon Jr with us but the only way for us to do that is for you to stop lingering on how much you screwed up and figure out how to crawl out of the pile of shit you've landed in." Nico's eyes were steadily narrowing with anger, Thalia didn't back down.

"You weren't there." He informed her for some weird fucking reason. She stared right into his dark eyes, trying to show just how unimpressed she was. Nico blinked slowly; message received.

"No, I wasn't; who cares? Now we're both here and Percy is somewhere else so maybe it would be helpful if you managed to move beyond your seven-step path and find him."

Someone cleared their throat, by someone it was obviously Annabeth. They taught that girl how to build monuments to last a lifetime, but someone forgot to teach her to not interrupt people when they were trying to have a good old-fashioned tongue battle. Not that it mattered because Thalia would've won, obviously.

"It's all well and good you wanting to bring him with you, but how the hell do you intend on rescuing him?" Annabeth asked with an air of paternal disappointment that gave Thalia the shivers.

"Rescue him?" Iapetus repeated sharing an amused look with Damasen that made it apparent they had made a mistake, again, shocker. With matching looks of displeasure, they all folded their arms and stared at the dynamic duo, waiting for them to give them another piece of information that no doubt would have very useful in the past.

"He won't wait for you lot to get your shit together and save him, he's not like you; he's not used to someone saving him from the dragon's claws. He'll get himself out, all you need to do is get to the doors and meet him there." Iapetus gave them all a condescending look aside from Nico who he had yet to address since the boy had told them what had happened since they had left the two boys behind.

"You can't expect us to do nothing!" Leo objected. Once again Iapetus let out a cold laugh.

"Why not? It's in your blood after all."

Thalia wished that her father's sky was over them because then she could've summoned a bolt of lightning and fried that look of Iapetus' and Damasen's faces. Then she would've definitely been in a better mood.

As it was, she was likely to never see the sky again. Especially when they had all fallen into the trap that would end the rule of the Gods, unknowingly of course.

* * *

 **PERCY**  
Percy let out a steady stream… no, he let out a whole tsunami of swear words despite them all sounding like a baby's babble against the gag that his captor (dickhead) had stuffed in his mouth. He wasn't even sure what it was, but it kind of tasted like either an incredibly mouldy sock or someone's underwear. He really, really hoped for the former.

"You're just making this worse for yourself." Came the ever-present asshole. Percy couldn't figure out why the guy kept continuously pointing out the obvious. Did he honestly expect Percy was going to make it easy?

Finally, a mistake was made on the other's part: he leant down to either whisper in Percy's ear or do something far worse. Instantly Percy reared his head back, ignoring the cramps caused by the sudden movement, and managed to smack the guy straight in the nose. Spluttered and swearing, the guy got to his feet and spun to deliver a strong, painful kick to Percy's innocent ribs.

Percy rolled over onto his back and used his free hands to pull the gag out of his mouth and tried to get to his feet, tried to run. He got about half an inch off the ground before he was pushed back down again.

"Stay there," the man growled. Percy looked at him again, trying to see any resemblance in that painfully wicked face to the boy he knew. There was none except that he still had the scar; one that ran from his eyebrow, then tucked under his obsidian eyepatch (the kind that a pirate would definitely wear to his execution) and then curled to a halt on his cheek. Like a sleeping serpent.

All this served little satisfaction to Percy, what did please him was the swollen skin and blood that encased his nose that signalled that it was undoubtedly broken – point to Percy.

"You're pathetic little shit." He growled as he pocked at his swollen friend. Percy let out a rasped laugh as he lay back down, not daring to challenge the guy until his head managed to re-orientate itself because the endless spinning was starting to put a damper on his mood.

"You are nothing but a sick pervert," Percy scolded. Pulling his leg to his chest in a foolish hope that it would stop him from…. Yeah.

"I have been charged with dealing with you, by any means necessary." Percy shuddered internally and desperately tried to get to his feet again, already certain that he wouldn't be able to run from that particular encounter. He wasn't even close to being on his face before his old friend growled and forced him back to the ground, the worst place for Percy to be, all things considered.

Then came the sound that to Percy was as world ending as the harrowing ringing of the horn of the Gods summoning all living beings for the battle that would end it all. What was it? The cackle of a belt buckle slowly coming undone.

His face was turned to the side then smothered into to the ground, an impromptu mask against Percy's screams and groans of pain as his legs were roughly pinned down.

"Hold still," he was instructed. He ignored that suggestion as he tried to wriggle as much as he could, the result was unsatisfactory until he managed to release his left arm from where it was being held under the guy's thighs.

A flash of silver then an explosion of pain echoed in his hand as the asshole found a convenient method of keeping Percy' hand still. He simply grabbed his wrist and pressed the limb into the dirt and then used a knife to make sure it stayed there used a knife to keep Percy's hand down. The pain was excruciating, enough that is drove Percy to lie paralysed for a few moments – a long enough time for the guy to start reaching downwards, towards Percy's trouser edge.

Percy squeezed his eyes tight. Thankfully, that was as far as things got before there was a roar of pure, uncontained fury and his assaulter was stabbed right through the chest. He spasmed and gasped before falling limp on Percy's chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"Kid?" Came the voice of Percy's savour, and newly appointed best friend for life.

"Iapetus?" Percy stuttered out, stunned. The body was tugged harshly from his back and then Percy finally had freedom over his movements, thank Chaos.

First things first: Percy reached over and yanked the knife from his hand. The result let out an explosion of agony but against his overwhelming relief, it felt almost like a bothersome fly.

Blood trickled from the slit in his hand, but Percy couldn't give less of a shit as he flopped back onto his back to get a good look at his saviour. Percy had never seen Iapetus look so mad in his life. The Titan's usually warm eyes burnt bright and his entire body was tightly coiled and despite the fact his spear was drenching in scarlet blood and a body lay at his feet the Titan looked somewhat happy with the situation.

"Good to see you, Percy." Percy smiled up at him, the Titan returned the gesture and it was all adorably domestic.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked, accepting the hand that Iapetus reached down. In one smooth movement he was on his feet and nonchalantly straightened out his crumpled clothes and shook the soot from his hair, not that it mattered – his hair was dark, but still; it was all about the thought.

"Kronos has been giving me job after job for the past month or so; I just finished one and was trying to hide from him." Percy blinked at the Titan, confused. After a few awkward moments of eye contact, he came to a rather obvious realisation: something sinister was afoot.

"I thought you and Damasen were taking the others to the doors," Percy pressed. The Titan's face went blank and then clouded over with confusion that matched Percy's own.

"Percy, Damasen and I have spent that last week trying to recruit the hermits that live in Tartarus' toes. Explain, now." So, Percy did and as he went on he felt more and more like a fool. Especially as Iapetus's expression became more and more ludicrous as it went on.

"What did we look like?"

"Uh… well, that's the funny thing I uh… I never saw you… either of you… I just ate you're uh, soup." Percy stammered out, rubbing the back of his head – with his good hand – awkwardly. Iapetus looked down at his spear as if contemplating murder (as you do) and Percy took a wise shuffle away from the furious Titan.

"Percy. I want you to repeat after me, can you do that?" Iapetus' voice was monotonous and cold; Percy nodded obediently.

"Repeat: 'I am an idiot who did an idiotic thing and decided to trust the word of a goth wannabe over my own brain and judgement'". Percy felt bad; it wasn't Nico's fault. Then he felt angry because it was entirely Nico and co.'s faults, bloody mortals.

Percy repeated the words carefully trying to sound as robotic as Iapetus did and failing miserably. Smiling with a sort of fondness, Iapetus smiled at him. Then he swore softly and reached for Percy's bloody hand and healed it along with his bruised ribs and the finally his shredded legs. Even though they'd long since grown numb the relief was staggering.

"If it isn't you escorting the others, who is?" Percy demanded, feeling like it was a decent time to address the elephant in the room, and no; that wasn't another crack about Iapetus increasing weight.

"I have a theory. But you're not going to like -"

"Hold on; the description Nico gave me was accurate and I don't think Anna-thingy would be fooled by a simple costume, so magic must've been involved which means…" Percy trailed off in horror.

"Alabaster," Iapetus confirmed. Percy buried his head in his hands because not only was Alabaster powerful; he was smart. Smarter than most would assume, he also used to be a good ally of Percy's which for some reason made it all so much worse than it already was.

"He always talked about getting out," Percy admitted, voice muffled by his hands. "I didn't think he was being serious, he wanted to see his mum again and you know, destroy Olympus and its inhabitants." Percy grimaced as he stared at Iapetus' steadily darkening face.

"Why didn't you report him, or at least tell me!" Percy acknowledged his words with a grim look and then nodded softly because that would've been the logical thing to do. Too bad he was a few years late with his epiphany.

Eventually, Percy pulled himself together enough to defend his actions: "I thought he was joking!" before he came to a heart-stopping realisation.

"What?" Iapetus demanded, catching onto Percy's paling face and widening eyes.

"I think I know who's playing Thing Two," Percy breathed.

"Who?" Then Iapetus apparently put the pieces together himself. "Oh," he breathed. Percy wrapped his arms tightly around his chest, trying to hold himself together as well as he could. Looking down at the slowly fading body of Ethan Nakamura, he contemplated the end of the world.

Then he formed a plan, a terrible one at that. But it was the only kind that he had left.

* * *

 **And that's it, sadly. But this chapter was horrendously difficult to right, a joy to edit; that's when I can life at my poor grammar and hopeless attempts at metaphors. Don't worry; Ethan's story won't end here. I do want to do a whole chapter or two about Ethan and Alabaster but whether that happens or not really depends on how much free time I get. So far it's not promising.**

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

 **Also it's part of my new years resolution to edit the crap out of this so at some point it might be taken down to then be edited and replaced. Not this month though, so don't worry (or celebrate) yet.**


	28. Chapter 28 - We are the Warriors

**I have to say, it is very annoying when you spend ages writing a chapter, only for the website you post it on to not allow you to upload it. SO ANNOYING. Well at least I managed to hack the system, right? By hack I mean find my way around the problem, but hey as long as it works.**

 **Shout outa:**

 **Chomper32: Oh do you now? Well the pairing isn't that interesting I'm afraid so if you've guessed an extreme one then the odds at low. thanks.**

 **DemigodSassReaders: Thank you, I shall!**

 **Tom Holland is my life: Hello again. Will do xx**

 **dauntlessofthesea : I was hoping that things would start making sense now XD. Thanks, Percy's POV was really difficult so I'm glad you like how it came out.**

 **Ethanolo: Oh well welcome then. Here's your update.**

 **LighteningTheif47: Alright, thanks for voting.**

 **LighteningTheif47:... maybe, maybe not. Who knows? *evil laughter***

 **CressentRose: Haha ok then.**

* * *

 **THALIA**

"This feels wrong," Thalia whispered to Jason as they all walked onwards. They trailed their guides in a single file line as if they were eighteenth-century Caribbean pirates marching dismally for the gallows.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked her, glancing over his shoulder to watch her with burning eyes. Bags hung underneath them and there were permanent marks bounding his eyebrows together.

"Percy saved us more times than we can thank him for, and now we're just going to leave him? According to Nico when he left Percy he was in tip-top condition, but what if he's not? And who knows what Kronos will do to him." Jason turned his back to her, dismissive of her concerns or more worried about his own? Thalia didn't know. Which, considering he was her brother, was kind of bad of her.

"We're all getting weaker and weaker, Thals. The blessing the gods gave us to protect us is wearing off; we don't have time." Thalia grumbled something unflattering under her breath, adjusting the sack on her shoulder. Her entire left side was aching and bruised yet they seemed to show no sign of stopping anytime soon even though they had been walking for hours on end with no food or water.

Not that Thalia particularly recommended the cuisine available in Tartarus; you will get diarrhoea before you get to the end of your meal.

"Are you thinking of food?" Leo piped up from behind her. Thalia whirled around to face him, the action swift enough to make her head spin before focusing on the impish face of Leo Valdez.

"How dare you insinuate that I, Thalia Grace, would be thinking about food at such a serious time." She fumed hoping that the dark air held the red of her blush hidden. Leo cocked his head to the side, thumbs looped through the straps of his toolbelt. The item had long since drained of colour, for reasons that no one really understood but had all collectively accepted that it was simply a result of the gods' reach becoming more and more taunt the deeper in the dark they dwelt.

"Alright, madam Grace, what were you thinking about exactly?" Leo challenged, bronze eyes burning with mirth. Thalia sniffed as if the question offended her.

"I was thinking about how upset the other campers would be if we left you behind." Thalia shot back with a grin stretching her lips. Leo gave a mock gasp – his hand rose to his heart as he flinched away from her even as his smile grew dangerously. "I'd tell them you died honourably – I'd say, 'He was so brave; none of us were sure how steep the drop was and Leo's noble sacrifice blessed us with the knowledge that is was not jumpable'."

The son of Hephaestus barked out an amused laugh that seemed to come directly from his stomach as it resulted in him clutching at his middle and doubling over. Next to them, Jason gave a snort and an approving look in Thalia's direction, who tipped her invisible cap in his direction.

"I don't know what's sadder," Hazel put in. "The fact that you'd lie about him being dead, or the fact that everyone would probably believe it." Thalia sniggered slightly as Leo pouted in offence. Thalia had never really gotten a chance to know the daughter of Pluto all that well: Hazel lived at Camp Jupiter with Frank rather than Camp Half-blood with the rest of them.

It still surprised the heck out of Thalia every time she saw Hazel and Nico together, because although the two were incredibly powerful and kind of scary (not that she'd ever tell Nico that, gods, imagine his reaction) but they were just so different.

"I think the saddest part is the fact that Leo still thinks this is a joke." Thalia sent her best 'I-like-sharp-objects-very-much' look in the shorter boy's direction, who took a wise step away and dove for cover behind Frank's bulky form.

"We need to go," Damasen called over to them. At some point, they'd shuffled to a stop and thankfully the two guides had been merciful enough to allow them a few minutes of rejuvenation before time became too tight and they'd have to move on again. However, as much as Thalia appreciated the gesture, she was still slightly miffed about the reprieve coming to an end so soon.

It always seemed to be too 'soon' lately.

* * *

 **PERCY**

Wasn't it amusing that corridors seemed a heck of a lot longer when you were running down them, trying to save the few living people left in your pit of a home?

Yes, it was funny, it was fricking hilarious.

Ha, ha, ha.

"That is the most unfunny thing you've ever said, Iapetus," Percy growled out between laboured breaths as he followed the chuckling Titan down another narrow passageway. This one had ceilings the stretched up in glided up into a single point, like an axe blade.

"Cheer up, sunshine it isn't that far now." The Titan goaded spinning around to give Percy a manly punch on the shoulder. An action that was completely unnecessary and, more importantly, painful when the instigator was wearing iron gauntlets.

So, shoulder throbbing, Percy listed all the lovely names he could think of to give the douche bag that was about to sacrifice eight demigods for his own malevolent cause.

* * *

 **THALIA**

It was most unfortunate that her natural survival instincts kicked around the time of 'too little, too late, loser'.

It started with a slight tingling on the back of her neck as if someone was lightly teasing her with the brittle hairs of an ancient paintbrush and then it got worse. To the extent that she was certain that someone blind and deaf would be able to sense her discomfort from a mile away.

"Somethings wrong," she whispered to Jason, who in turn gave her a silencing look over his shoulder. His posture was calm and exhausted, as it had been for the last few miles. Only now his hands were clenched tightly behind his back and his steps equally measured in a way that was too perfect to be effortless.

So, something was wrong then.

Obviously, in Tartarus everything was supposed to feel wrong – they were as far from their homes as they may ever be, so far away that the gods' touch was unable to get to them, rendering them defenceless as mortals. Somewhat battle trained, badass warriors but mortal ones nonetheless.

Only that foreign homelessness had started fading the longer they had been down there, until it was no more concerning than the lack of light in the dead of night. A simple inconvenience, no more; no less.

Until now. Now it felt tangible as a layer of slime over her skin. Thalia was certain that if she focused hard enough she would be able to hear a voice chanting the words 'run: there's nothing for you here. Why are you still here? There is nothing for you're here. Get out, run, run, run!'

With a forced air of nonchalance, the daughter of Zeus dared a glance at the people behind her. They all looked pale in the dying light of the dying land. They all looked at her dead in the eyes as if they were trying to send her some telepathic message, one that she was by no means able to receive.

Knowing that they needed to turn back, Thalia looked back ahead again. At the front of the group, Iapetus and Damasen were marching forward at a brutal pace and with an aura of impatience that Thalia had previously chalked down to no more than desperation to leave Tartarus, because who could blame them, really?

Now it was clear as day that that was not the case; it was not impatience or lingering terror of their diabolical pursuers, rather it was excitement. Warning bells rattled her spin and she patted Jason on the shoulder, he was at the front of the demigods aside from Annabeth who was right behind the two suspects.

Her brother looked at her with big blue eyes in a way that only an annoying younger sibling could; with a look that said 'fix this for me, please? I don't know how'.

So, it was up to Thalia to chase her brother's demons away, was it?

Alright then. Game on.

* * *

 **PERCY**

"Oh, for the love of Chaos, how many more rocks are there out to get me?" Percy grumbled dodging over the valley of the little devils. In case it wasn't clear – the rocks were in fact rocks, not some nickname he gave some despicable monsters. They were bigger than pebbles but smaller than boulders: rocks.

Thankfully Iapetus had managed to lead him out of the labyrinth of corridors and tunnels into the far more open space of Tartarus' kidney. With was filled with hundreds of rocks that seemed to sprout out of nowhere in the exact place in front of where Percy's foot landed as he ran so that he would predictably trip over and end up sprawled over even more rocks that would burrow into the most painful places they could find.

Assholes.

"This place is falling apart, Percy, we haven't got time for this!" Iapetus called back to Percy just as the former ran into a giant bogey of a monster. Percy opened his mouth to yell a warning, but the action ended up being unneeded as the Titan expertly spun on his heal and severed the things head with one mighty swing of his spear.

Percy gave a round of applause, which in the echoing cavern may not have been all that smart but Iapetus seemed to appreciate it as he bent into a low bow that had the Titan's armour clinking together like glasses of champagne at Christmas.

(… wait, what?)

"Come on, kid, hurry up." Iapetus ran up to his younger companion and began dragging him forward in the hope of spurring him to move faster; they had a lot of ground to cover if they wanted to stop the terrible two in time. Percy felt like his head was full of water, and not in the relaxing, content way. The pressure in his skull felt so tight that he wondered if it would explode and then he was longing for that mental image to get the heck out of his head because it was rather disgusting, to be honest.

"I feel weird," Percy admitted trying to collect the reigns he needed to control his legs that seemed intent in becoming independent from the will of his brain, which was so bloody unhelpful.

"Good for you," Iapetus snapped, irritated. Percy, slightly miffed at his flippant attitude, wrenched his arm out of the Titan's grip with a force that sent him tumbling back to his ground. He grunted as he landed on his behind, Iapetus spun to look at him with a face of ash. In the dim glow of Tartarus, the Titan's silver hair looked fine as spider silk as he knelt directly in front of the smaller boy and gripped him by the shoulder.

"We don't have time for this," the Titan warned softly. Percy nodded in agreement – Iapetus was right of course but that didn't mean that Percy had to like it. Iapetus held out a hand to him, looking to the world like a man on a mission.

Before Percy had the chance to take to offered held, something vile bubbled up in his throat and he erupted in a coughing fit. He pushed a hand again his mouth as coughs wracked his frame. The Titan gave a light sigh as he hefted Percy to his feet, hoping that the position would lessen the boy's coughs.

No such luck, Percy doubled over slightly as his companion held him up and rubbed awkward shapes on his back. Considering the sharp gauntlets that the Titan was wearing, the action did more bad than good. The thought was received gratefully anyhow.

After a millennium, the fit eased and Percy could breathe normally again. Once he did he pulled his hand away, he was horrified to feel a sticky substance covering his palm.

"Oh gross; I've got a phlegmy palm." Percy grimaced in disgust. Towering above, Iapetus gave a strangled sort of sigh.

"Uh… Percy…"

Feeling like he was being obtuse (not for the first time) Percy dared a proper look at his hand and instantly felt light headed.

"Oh no, this is much worse." He commented mildly before listing sideways and falling to the ground.

* * *

 **THALIA**

"I don't feel well," Thalia bemoaned. She tried to labour her breathing and slow her pace until she seemed believably out of order. Only the Titan and the Giant seemed to give no shits about how she was fairing in favour of simply taking turns giving her sympathetic looks with the palpability of a Barbie doll bought on the black market.

"Don't worry, Thalia, we're almost there." There was another thing that came under the 'highly-suspicious' category in Thalia's mind.

They only ever called her by name, and whenever they dead, Iapetus would smirk at her in a knowing way that set her teeth on edge.

So far, they had all taken turns trying to implore onto the two a realistic reason for why the group should try to have a take-five. Thus far nothing had even come close to deterring them from their wicked path. Once or twice, Damasen had given them a very out of character look, one that promised blood if they didn't stop.

Form what she knew about the Giant was that he was made as the opposite of Ares and so was gentle and sweet, unlike his hot-headed counterpart. Greek Mythology was no lie – heck they were all living proof of that – but for Damasen it seemed like there had been a miss translation somewhere along the line.

And they were all likely to be the ones to pay the price for it.

"No need to look so put down, child," the gentle Giant purred as he and Iapetus shared a conspiratorial look. "We're only about a five-minute walk from the doors."

"So, we're almost out?" Leo asked with a doubtful look, his hand was periodically checking the contents of his magical toolbelt, a fool's hope.

If there was even still room for hope.

"Close enough, yes you're almost out." Iapetus sounded sincere enough, happy even.

"What about Percy?" Thalia demanded, folding her arms across her chest and falling still, uncaring to the dangerous look the two sent her way as she stopped walking to her own funeral. A hundred looks passed over Iapetus' face: fondness maybe with a hint of hunger that scared her – not that she would admit it.

"He'll meet us there if he's still alive." Damasen grinned. Iapetus sent his friend a surprised look that the Giant shook off with a silver smirk.

Something vile and strong latched onto Thalia's heart and dragged it down into her stomach where the organ began twisting cruelly. "What are you talking about?" She hissed, reached over her shoulder for her gleaming spear, concrete in the knowledge that she would kill either one of them in a heartbeat if they gave her solid motive to do so.

"Don't worry your little head about it, Thalia." Damasen waved her off. By her side, Nico approached. After spending the last hours in dead silence, his support was a treasured surprise. His dark sword was – surprise, surprise – dark in the wasteland. Yet it seemed far from dead, more like it was hibernating during its period of rest and now it was reawakening.

"If you don't tell me where he is right now so help me god I will burn your hideous head from your filthy body," Thalia snarled.

Distantly she remembered how when she had first reunited with Jason, her brother had treated her like a stranger. The fact that they were siblings meant very little to him for the longest time, long enough the Thalia began to wonder if she would ever have her little brother back.

Until she found him sitting in the woods with a stunning white wolf curled in his lap. That was the moment she realised that her brother was not part of a family but a pack; blood mattered little it was kindness and loyalty that mattered to him.

Now she was sure that she got it as she herself felt her gut tug protectively and in satisfaction as all her friends stood by her side against the only two beings who might have been able to set them free. Some of them didn't like Percy, this she knew. But Thalia liked him well enough, and for her friends, that was enough and they all stood united against a force much stronger than they could handle.

Even Annabeth, albeit reluctantly, stood by Thalia's side, her knife was drawn and her knees were bent expertly. Damasen laughed coldly at them, eyes black as night.

"He didn't want it to come to this," he gestured vaguely in Iapetus' direction, "but I for one am overjoyed at this turn of events." The Giant pulled an oak staff from his back, Thalia had assumed that it had a blade at one end when she had seen the Giant grab it way back in the hut, all those miles away.

No blade was on it, though, only ancient letters that curved around the smoothed wood like a shawl. Damasen raised it high above his head, Thalia jerked back guided by instinct alone and thankfully the others seemed to also have inherited that primal instinct that sent them running like sheep for the hills.

They only had moved a few feet when Damasen released a guttural roar that sounded like words but it was no language that Thalia had ever heard before, which didn't narrow it down much. His staff arched down to the ground until the top pierced the ground at his feet. A sound rattled out at the contact, more horrible than nails on a chalkboard. More horrible than her mother popping the cap off yet another bottle as she prayed that maybe this one was the one strong enough to end it all.

Her head spun and before she felt herself fall she felt a sharp stone slash her knee and blood soak her jeans. The sound was not deterred as she covered her ears, in fact, it made it worse. It was like the sound was a seed that had landed in her brain and now it was growing inside of her, suffocating her from the inside out.

She heard people screaming, one scream was agonisingly familiar. Her scream. It burnt her throat as she clawed at the back of her head desperately trying to find where the thing was and GET IT OUT.

Someone was laughing, the sound was warm and pleased and it made her want to hurt and hurt; claw and bite; cut and break.

Because it was familiar now, it had morphed slightly over the years from burdened and cold to free and happy. Hardly the change Thalia would have predicted but one she was still perfectly willing to deal with, by any means necessary.

A hand reached for her wrist, dragging it away from the back of her head. She looked up through her tears at a pale face with slicked brown hair and cruel green eyes. Thalia knew that face; she hated that face.

Ignoring the roots digging deep into her mind, Thalia launched herself forward unto her currently 'least favourite person of the year'. He looked vaguely impressed, an expression she slashed away with her nails as she dug them into his soft, unblemished cheeks and dragged them down until he howled and bloody painted her nails.

In the back of her mind, the beast the boy had put there was howling with hate but Thaila just wanted to get it OUT.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD."

* * *

 **PERCY**

When he woke up again it was with fury in his head and hate on his tongue. He couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes considering the mildly surprised look on Iapetus' face. But it was enough.

"Welcome back to the land of the almost-living." Iapetus greeted, smiling broadly. Percy pulled a face at him, feeling particularly bad for himself and, more pressingly, feeling like Iapetus was trying to pull a quick one on him by distracting him.

"What the-" Percy muttered, struggling to sit up. Not an easy task since he felt bloody awful. It was hard to narrow down exactly what was wrong with him – only physical issues, of course, mental issues were to be dealt with another day – because he felt like death all over.

His head was tight with a merciless migraine and his eyes stung at even the slightest movement of his head. Consequently, sitting up was a monumentally bad idea.

"Slow down," Iapetus mumbled, reaching out to stabilize Percy by his shoulder. The help was appreciated but also made his arm ache almost the second the Titan's muscled hand gripped him, damn super strong Titans.

"Urg, I feel like death." Percy pressed his thumb to his forehead, half-heartedly massaging a circle into his head.

"Percy, I feel like this may be a stupid question. But how long have you been, you know, coughing up blood."

"Well, I have to say that was a stupid question," Percy affirmed.

"Well, that wasn't really the point of what I was saying," Iapetus growled out, mirroring Percy's stance as the other also pressing his hand to his forehead.

"Right you are. Um… I think this is the first time this has happened, expect from that time I got shot in the stomach and coughed up blood as I slowly bled to death." Percy mused.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Iapetus smiled apologetically, Percy rolled his eyes at the clearly insincere expression of regret. "The blood thing is concerning though, you're not injured, are you?"

Frowning, Percy patted his hands over his stomach and all areas where vital organs lay. He found nothing that made any alarm bells go off in his mind.

To put it simply – he was not injured.

"I don't think so."

Iapetus suddenly let out a startled gasp that had Percy scanning their area for any signs of danger. When his scout came up empty he sent Iapetus a lost look – all big eyes and dropping lips. The Titan darted forward and pressed his thumb to the corner of Percy's left eye, the pressure made little patterns dance across his vision and the boy flinch back.

"What the heck?" Percy demanded. Iapetus showed Percy his thumb and, horrifyingly, Percy found in decorated with a little splat of blood. No bigger than a freckle but still his blood and still worryingly leaking from his eye ball. "Oh gods." The curse slipped out of his lips, one he had never said before he had only heard the other demigods say it.

"Percy, have you taken any poison recently."

It was a really stupid question; why exactly would Percy have taken poison? He knew that whatever source had kept him from dying was weakening. Why would he risk his life by testing his poison tolerance anyway? Seemed pointless and painful to him.

An image came to his mind, followed by the vile taste of monster's underwear and rotten food.

Oh shit.

"Back at Damasen's Nico was told to make sure I drink a soup of some kind, supposedly it was good for my health, but what if…" he trailed off, looking away from Iapetus' paling face to his knees as he curled them close to his chest, naively trying to protect himself from the inevitability of fate.

"How much did you have of it?"

"All of it." Percy screwed his eyes shut and pressed the heels of his hands to them, feeling them burn in the corners. Whether it was tears of blood was no longer clear. Nothing seemed clear anymore, he'd spent years living each day out as if it were his last, and now it may have been and he was lost.

Percy imagined himself like a kit, constantly pulled along by his string though the valleys of life. Dancing along the wind, tethered to his owner but free to roam in the air as much as he was allowed. Now that string had been cut and the swung free, and for a moment he felt the freedom of the open air and bathed in the bright skies.

Only to be swallowed up by the claws of the storm before he got the chance to find his way to happiness.

Pulling his hands away from his eyes he released a long breath that left his lungs burning but soon they seemed to resettle promptly. It was like every fibre of his being somehow understood the importance of wasting no more time.

Time was running out.

In his head, he repeated a mantra: 'sunshine, warmth, oceans, moon, stars'. All things he would never get to see, not in this life anyhow. If he got the chance maybe he'd go for rebirth and get to see it all through a stranger's eyes. Or maybe he was already doomed to the Fields of Punishment for eternity.

 _Calm down, focus. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, nobody cares; get up and carry on._

"I need to kill them." Percy breathed. His words seemed to startle Iapetus back to life and the Titan made a wondering sound.

"I need to go to those damn doors and slay all those that seek to open them. I can't let them out, not after all they've done: they deserve to rot here for eternity." So, what if he was bitter – didn't he have the right? Or was there no justifying drowning in hatred?

"You can't-" Iapetus began. Percy couldn't deal with cans and can'ts anymore, only the musts and the mustn'ts.

"I will release the power of Tartarus onto those who dared to oppose the true leader of these lands." Percy continued, blazing on carelessly. The list of tasks seemed impossible long. Even Hercules took years to complete his labours, Percy had hours at most.

"And if Kronos finds you again?" Iapetus pointed out. Percy pulled his face into a snarl.

"Then this dirty orphan will tear him to pieces. He can try to stop me, but I don't think even he is stupid enough to get in my way."

"He's the king of the Titan's, Percy. He does what he wants in any way he wants – your sudden desire to be a martyr will do little to deter him, I'm afraid." Iapetus reached out to hold Percy by his forearm as if trying to find out where the source of Percy's omnipotent rage was. Sadly, Percy wasn't convinced it was from visible scars.

"And I hold the last remains of a primordial in my veins." Percy shot back, leaning forward to that he looked the silver-eyed Titan dead in his soul, pressing his index finger into the centre of the Titan's chest to prove his point further. "I dare him to come get me now."

The two remained locked in their silent battle for a few moments before a tired grin split the elder's face, like the sun peaking over the horizon.

"Give him everything he deserves then, Percy." And with that, the Titan pressed his thumb to his lips and muttered something too softly for Percy to pick up and then pressed the thumb to Percy's unblemished forehead.

Warmth spread through his body at the contact and a breeze seemed to rattle through his core, brushing away the cobwebs that covered up long forgotten quirks and memories. Percy gasped and pulled back, Iapetus let him fall back flat on his back with a bemused expression.

"I hope you find that more useful than I did." He announced. Percy let out an unintelligible mumble at that, head spinning.

"I have no doubt that I will, thank you." He smirked up at the moss-covered ceiling feeling a sense of purpose that had his energy bar refilling at double the speed than it had been before, and he felt fantastic.

"I guess I have to go after him first," Percy informed his friend calmly, smiling like someone who had too little to gain and too much to lose. Raider's influence was tickling at the back of his mind like a docile cat that was purring for a treat. You must reward a well-behaved pet somehow, what better way to appease the animal than letting it out to play?

"There are many that stand with him," Iapetus warned. Percy sent him a filthy look as the Titan hauled him gently to his feet as if Percy was one wrong turn away from falling again. Which he wasn't, thank you very much. "And you are in no shape to face down a legion of monsters and Giants. Not to mention the fact the Kronos will be up and at it again soon."

Percy sent the Titan a coy look complete with a scheming look that he knew the Titan both admired and hated. After all, although Percy's plans were usually successful, that also had a habit of going very badly, very quickly.

"War doesn't excuse the dying. Now I have to get going." Percy ordered, spinning in a direction that was east of where Iapetus was trying to guide him previously.

"Well, war is not that way, Percy." Iapetus chuckled. Percy skidded to a halt and pivoted to face his only ally, his hands planted on his hips and a nonplussed expression on his face.

"Iapetus," Percy drawled. "I have no weapons and not enough clothing for myself to be considered even remotely prepared for battle. Do you want me to go to war in my pyjamas?"

"As amusing as that would be, I think that would be a rather stupid idea." Iapetus grinned. Percy nodded in approval and spun back to the trail he longed to blaze. He made it about a dozen steps before Iapetus was asking yet another stupid question.

"Where are you going then?" Percy moaned loudly and spun back around for the millionth freaking time and slowly enunciated:

"I need weapons for stabbing and clothes for wearing so I'm going to get some." Percy scowled as the cogs in the Titan's brain seemed to slowly spin around until the metaphorical light bulb went off in his brain and all came together.

"You cannot go there, Percy, they'll all kill you the second that you even get close." He reached for Percy's arm and bent down to look deep into Percy's eyes as if searching for something. Whatever he was looking for, Percy hoped that he would find it.

"I'm dying," Percy admitted quietly. He held out his hand, palm up, which was soaked with blood. Iapetus' face pinched at the sight and the Titan looked away. "Let me die for something, please." Percy reached out to hold one of the Titan's larger hands between his own like he had back when he was a little boy, lost in the woods.

"We might be able to save you." Iapetus pleaded. He placed his hand on Percy's until the pair seemed to be locked together in some intricate handshake.

"You already have, Iapetus, you and Damasen both helped me when no one else wanted to. For that, I am eternally grateful for all that you have done for me." Iapetus seemed to crumble before him. Never had Percy ever seen the Titan – or any Titan for that matter – fall apart so utterly. It would be a stretch to say he was crying but the Titan was doing something similar, with his head bent over Percy's bloody hand as if he could absorb the death in his veins.

"You deserved so much better, Percy. You deserved the stars."

"When you get out – you better make sure you get out, by the way. And when you do, can you say hello to the starts for me?" Percy asked. Iapetus' nodded again his hand and pressed his lips to Percy's hand.

"I could come with you."

"No, I need to do this alone. This is my fight; I started it and now I should end it. I need to kill them." The words took more out of him than possible. Just as Percy felt himself wither, Iapetus released his hands, allowing Percy to use them on Iapetus shoulders to keep himself standing.

He rested his forehead against Iapetus', both out of exhaustion and out of adoration. "I hope you find your peace, Iapetus," Without giving the Titan a chance to respond Percy spun away from him for the last time and began to run, free as a bird soaring over the uninhabited land, ignorant to limits and rules.

As he ran he brushed his hand under his nose, catching the trickle of blood that had been leaking from his nose.

Eyes burning, the dying boy ran to avenge his own life. It may have been a selfish thing to do, but it was his actions that would save the world now. Of course, he did not know this himself, no one did. Not yet anyway.

Ancient heroes would go down in history treasured and praised while modest heroes kept fighting and fighting.

Bloody, beaten and bruised.

Burning and burning.

Nothing but ashes.

* * *

 **Damn that got sadder than I was hoping for. My damn emotions got me in their reigns i'm telling you: it sucks. Also I feel the need to say that this is the beginning of the end for this story by the way. I hope you're all as pumped for this to end as I am! And sad - I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself once I'm done with this.**

 **I was listening to one song all the way through the last part of this chapter and that was Praying by Kesha, I think it goes with Percy's character quite well so please check it out.**

 **See you all soon xxx**


	29. Chapter 29 - Times are changing

**Let's just pretend it's February and that this is on time, okay?**

 **Cool.**

 **Shout-outs:**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreous: Me neither, to be honest. It's been what? A year? it's crazy**

 **Elpis21: Glad you think so. I would but murder is illegal XD**

 **Lintsu13: Glad you like it. I'll try.**

 **Lintsu13: If Percy does make it to see the Gods. Then their reaction shall be a spectacle. I'll try but it would appear updating is not my forte.**

 **DemigodSassReaders: I'm glad you thought so. Maybe I should rename this story that: "Poor Percy" XD**

 **Percybeth4life: Damn that's commitment right there, thanks.**

* * *

 **PERCY**

Once, Percy dreamt that he was swimming. Only it wasn't in some ancient river, dank and dangerous that flayed away at Percy's mind and sapped his strength away as he fought against a demon far more powerful than he. No, Percy dreamt that he was in the ocean.

Through his mind's eye, he could see the deep blue of the open ocean and the murky grey of the coast. Alone in the ocean forged by his own hallucinations he'd felt calm, like that ocean was finally holding all the stray pieces of him soul together even as it sought to tear everyone else's apart.

His rotting mind had deemed that peaceful illusion the one to tear him apart. The poison in his veins made a new ocean, only this one wasn't calm and safe. This one roared in his ears and dripped out his eyes, it catapulted him back and forth with brutal efficiency. Even after his arms were bruised and his ankles swollen from the constant battle with gravity, it never let up.

Percy had wandered the path to Kronos' fort numerous times before – he wasn't stupid enough to navigate with his eyes closed but he was almost certain that he would be able to if the situation arose. Yet this time he was on foreign ground, battling with a taint that he couldn't attack.

The once delicately sharp walls that were carved with a careful eye to stop enemies charging right for the front gate were wet with bronze oil that dripped from an invisible mouth and the staircase-like floor was rotten with ivy plants that latched onto the soles of Percy's shoes, dragging him to the ground repeatedly.

It was like Tartarus was becoming infested with something. Which had supposedly happened in the past –never in Percy's lifetime, so how was he to know? No doubt from afar it would simply seem that the Titan's had upped their defence to their fortified compound. No; Percy knew them better than that.

It was wild and unpredictable, which the Titan's despised. They preferred cruel, heartless efficiency.

The sweet smell of rotten flesh wafted up from an oozing boil that had erupted from the top corner of the narrow passageway. Percy gagged reflexively and then cursed himself a moment later: stealth missions required stealth (and silence) after all.

Up ahead Kronos' domain was eerily silent and for all his practise, Percy felt as stealthy as an elephant marching over pieces of glass.

His head gave another crash of agony and Percy fought a groan as he was thrown off balance and into the sticky wall with a slurp and a smack. For a long while, he leant there trying desperately to push away the feeling of nausea – a valiant loss.

Any hope of a silent entry was lost as Percy doubled over and heaved into the humid earth. His stomach cramped in protest as it complained at its emptiness. Nothing came up but he still stood curled over for a few more moments, gagging dryly, before he could convince his body to keep going just for a little bit longer.

Whenever he'd felt that he was too tired, he would try to repeat their names:

'Kronos'

'Hyperion'

'Koios'

'Zeus'

And all the others that had done something to him that had left a mark. For a while it worked; it made him angry.

It was like eating your favourite meal repeatedly. it started out motivating and enchanting but after the wheels of time rolled all over it, it became pointless and dry.

So, he stumbled on, only thinking of finishing his mission – likely his final mission. And getting to see the look on everyone's face as he came back again to fight with the last of his nine lives.

Even if he was unsure of his chances.

He was a broken mind in a rotting body, after all. Hardly the stuff of legend.

* * *

 **THALIA**

Her throat felt as dry as Nico's personality as screams continued to tear from it. Above her, her attacker continued to swear and curse at her. Maybe he thought that his sharp tongue and lies would make her shut up.

Yeah, not likely.

The claws that had been wrapped around the back of his head, sinking into the delicate ropes of her sanity were slowly slackening their grip. Until it was more of a violent hug than a vicious attack.

"You stupid bitch, shut your big mouth before I sow it shut." The bastard growled out reaching for her mouth as if he thought it was a good idea. The moment he was close enough, Thalia shut her mouth, swallowed and then buried her teeth into the soft flesh of his hand.

Yowling, the dick tried to tug away – a monumentally bad idea; her sharp teeth ripped at his flesh and metallic blood mixed with her bile and dribbled from her lips. Really damn attractive.

Out of nowhere an arm came down and punched across her temple. Her eyes bugged out as her vision spiralled and her arms fell out from under her and she toppled to the ground. The momentary dizziness paralysed her enough for the hand to wrench itself out of her grip and stumble away.

Shame: she would've liked to have found out whether that fancy toothpaste had strengthened her teeth enough for her to mark his bones. Alas, maybe next time.

A boot pressed against her back and smooched her face into the ground. Around a mouthful of blood, she growled, "get you fucking dainty foot off my back, motherfucker."

Her vision was still trying to re-orientate itself, but it was clear enough for her to catch site of the chains being dragged towards her. The sound was strangely quiet amongst the chaos of the cave.

"I'll keep that suggestion in mind." A voice purred, distinctly male and so fucking familiar.

"You do that." She muttered into the ground. Her head hurt and her body was coiled to fight, and the restriction was slowly letting her muscles cramp into tight knots. Cursing, she tried to wriggle into a more comfortable position. Only the weight above her was too strong and made the agonising bruise on her back darken into something purple and blue.

Glaring at the smudged silhouette drawing closer she drawled. "Nice to see you, Alabaster. How's your hand?" she faked interest and watched his face twitch with mocking amusement.

Holding up the appendage he showed her the slightly glowing, completely healed, flesh.

"Your concern its appreciate, Thalia, but as you can see your attempts at an injury were as pointless as your existence," she closed her eyes and let him ramble about magic and his dominance and 'really Thalia? I was expecting more'. "Are you listening to me?" he asked.

Jerking slightly and opening one eye, she regarded him impassively.

"Oh sorry, were you still talking?" her voice came out childish and stubborn – just like she wanted. It jolted Alabaster into action and he stepped off her and then brought his foot back so that he could swing it towards her unprotected face. Tilting her body just so, she wrapped her arms around his foot and let his momentum pull her to her feet. Her sudden weight took him by surprise and he fell to the ground.

A win, win situation really.

"Thanks, prat." Thalia regarded her surroundings with sharp eyes before they focused in on her brother. Faster than Alabaster could stop her, she launched herself into Jason's capturer and sent him thudding into the ground with a swift kick in the knees.

Jason burst into action faster than Thalia anticipated (so proud). He grabbed the knife that the masked fellow had previously been dangling in his face and smashed the hilt between the eyes of the attacked. Jason's raw strength sent he guy to the floor in an instant, despite the sturdy mask protecting his face.

"Nice moves," she commented.

"Not so bad yourself." He shot back.

Together they turned to the rest of the assault group. Jason bared his white knife – must've been some type of ivory, she thought. And Thalia held her fists up as if she had a clue how to fist fight – which she did, but only against mortal dicks, not monstrous pricks.

Ha, that was a good rhyme. She'd have to send it to Apollo.

"You had to make it difficult, didn't you Thalia?" Alabaster asked, back on his feet. Thalia gave a dramatic bow before – in perfect sync – she and Jason slashed the distance between them and the other group and began throwing fists and kicks that were much more suited to a bar fight than a coordinated attack.

* * *

 **PERCY**

It was important in dark times to keep a positive outlook on life. For example: even though you are a few hours away from a painful death at least you have your brains and dignity.

Yeah

Fuck that.

Percy swore colourfully as he tried to wipe the mud out of his eyes. At least he hoped it was blood. To be honest the scarlet tint was ruin said hope pretty effectively.

"Tartarus, you son of a-" Percy started before footsteps ahead stilled his tongue. With infinite care, Percy ducked low to the ground and reached for a large, wet rock and rolled it around his palm.

"Did you hear something?" A voice gurgled. It sounded like their head was under water but Percy was fairly certain that there was no water in Kronos' keep, monsters and Titans hardly needed to stay hydrated whilst they rot in hell.

The only source of reasonably fresh water that didn't come from some deadly river was in Tartarus' liver and Percy had zero intentions of going anywhere near that delightful organ again. Weird shit lives in one's liver.

"Nah, I heard nothing." The other shouted, which may explain why he was unable to hear anything.

Percy's patience frayed away as another wave of nausea crashed into his concentration and left him gasping for breath and biting down on his bottom lip to hard it drew blood; he didn't have time for this.

Honing his focus and trying to delay the inevitable dry-heaving session that was due to start any minute, he started to creep closer to the two guards.

Thankful the two twits were too preoccupied with an intense debate about hearing aids to notice his approach.

Ironic, right?

Leaping out of the bushes, Percy brought the rock down hard onto one of the guard's wart riddled feet. It was hard to tell from that angle but Percy thought that one of them was a cyclops. As he shattered a large percentage of the bones in the cyclops' foot, the cyclops threw his head back with a cry of agony – and fury of course – giving Percy the perfect opportunity to use the monsters bent knee (curtesy of the giant fool clutching it in his meaty hands and hoping up and down) as a stepping stool to swing his legs around his thick neck.

Just like mounting a horse.

(What the fuck was a horse)

Reaching back, Percy used his new vantage point to grab the Cyclops' weapon of choice - a bludgeon, obviously. Then swing it across the other guard's face – this one was most definitely a dracaena. If it's trunk sized, scaly legs and female upper body were anything to go off.

She hissed furiously as he whacked her and then reached out to him with her red-stained fingernails. Percy used his weight to swing the still wailing cyclops around so instead of getting a fist full of Percy's locks she got shreds of the cyclops' skin.

Together the two of then howled. A cacophony of chaos, one the echoed tragically through the valley outside of Kronos' keep. With any hope, the man of the hour wasn't home.

Aware he was running out of time Percy twisted his ride again and used the movement to grab the dracaena around the shoulder and haul them both to the ground. He was back on his feet in an instant and swung his foot into the dracaena's abdomen. Due to his bare feet, the action was no doubt more painful to him than her but it pushed her away enough to give him time to reach for the bludgeon under her feet and swing it into the cyclops' one working leg and send the guy to the ground.

Snatching the helmet of the cyclops' head, he pivoted and thrust the metal spikes on top into the hard flesh between the dracaena's eyes and watched her eyes widen in shock and then whiten into unseeing oblivion.

He then did the same to the cyclops and then marched away, bloody helmet in one hand and muddy bludgeon in the other.

His head ached along with his hands and feet but the burst of adrenaline from the fight allowed him to push all that away and walk onwards with a cautious balance that always controlled him after a fight. It was as if his body had momentarily forgotten how to do natural things – like walking, for example – and was trying to figure it out again.

Slowly, he travelled the path that would lead him to the weapon hall of the Keep. In was simultaneously he most and least favourite place in the whole of Tartarus; he knew it kept him alive more than anywhere else but the scarlet marks on the wall and the internal bleeding shown by bruises were still fresh in his mind.

It was eerily quiet, he noticed as he picked up the pace a bit and rounded corner after corner with a sinking feeling of dread. There was only one reason that would explain why then entire keep had emptied out so thoroughly.

Kronos had found out what his demigod outcasts were planning.

Percy morphed into a sprint and began barrelling down corridors, heart in his throat.

NICO

The Grace siblings' assault bought them time. A messy distraction that gave Nico the window he needed to get the rest of the gang up on their feet with improvised weapons to defend themselves.

Nico brought his elbow hard into the gut of a girl that had grabbed him from behind as he tried to follow Alabaster as he slinked away from the fight down a huge, impossibly circular tunnel.

"He's getting away!" he called to anyone who would listen. Sadly, no one would listen as everyone was neck deep in their own combat.

One guy, wearing what was most definitely a leotard, flipped over to Hazel. He displayed some of the best acrobatics Nico has seen. All twists, leaps and flips but as he got within reaching distance, Hazel took a step towards him and punched him in the face. Instantly the award-winning performer fell face-first to the ground.

Frank laughed boisterously at the display and gave Hazel a warm smile. One that Nico's sister returned with a smirk, even as she rubbed her thumb over her rapidly bruising knuckled.

Another charged and Nico and he disposed of them with a side step and a conveniently placed foot. They were untrained, Nico realised, these couldn't possibly be the best of the best. So, they weren't Kronos' men then?

The who's were they?

"Nico!" Thalia called from her position with a stiletto pressed into the neck of a snarling girl who couldn't be any older than Hazel. "Where did Tweddle Dum and Dee go?" this seemed to annoy the pinned girl as she thrashed with renewed vigour.

"Dum lolloped in that direction." Nico gestured vaguely to where he'd seen Alabaster go. "I didn't see the other one."

Thalia cursed loudly and pressed harder into the vulnerable flesh beneath her boots, making the girl fall deadly still and gargle slightly.

"Um, guys?" Piper called over to them. Her voice was monotonous but there was an undertone of worry there that had Nico marching over to her.

"What is it?" Thalia shouted over.

"Has anyone seen Annabeth?" she asked loudly. As one everyone started spinning around and Leo even lifted his feet and checked under then before his mouth opened in panic.

"I don't think she's under there Leo." Nico drawled, amused.

Leo grinned, "I don't know, _amigo_ , I have found weird stuff under these shoes."

"If you look hard enough," Jason muttered lowly, "you may find the tattered remains of my will to live." Nico chucked at that, mostly because of Leo's picture-perfect face of how-very-dare-you.

"Guys!" Piper shouted, furious. Jason's lips turned down in a classic 'whoops' face before he doubled his efforts to hunt for the missing daughter of Athena.

Across the cave, Hazel made a whip sound that set Leo cackling, even Piper's lips twitched even though she seemed to fight to hide it. Jason scowled at the daughter of Pluto but didn't give her any witty remark. Point to Hazel then.

Nico struggled to find the will to feel bad about Annabeth's absence – mostly because she'd spent the entirety of their quest being a massive pain in the backside. Also, Nico couldn't help but feel like her sudden disappearance was no accident or coincidence. After all, they hadn't exactly been fighting trained assassins and Annabeth was probably the best at hand to hand combat out of them all.

If she had vanished then it may well have been by choice.

"I think that we should go after Alabaster," Frank admitted as he kicked over the body of an unconscious blond-haired kid. Just in case, you know? Piper didn't object, to their surprise. At their surprised looks, the daughter of Aphrodite just shrugged.

"Where else would she go?" she asked. It may well have been rhetorical because no one offered up an answer.

"I have a better idea," Thalia announced before she reached down to tug the now purple-faced girl to her feet and pressed her into a wall. "How about we get us some answers, huh?"

* * *

 **PERCY**

The weapon's hall was desolate. Just as he had originally hoped but was starting to fear. The walls were practically bare of any decent weapons and muddy footprints tracked across the usually clean floor.

A sharp gust of wind burst through the doors and threw them open behind him. The strength of it sent Percy to his knees, where he simply settled into a cross legged position. He was too distracted to stand.

For one thing, there wasn't usually any wind in this part of Tartarus – it was usually the uh… more southern regions. And two, the weapons were gone which made coming here a pointless and exhausting mission.

Morosely, Percy reached for his only weapon; a slimy bludgeon. It was riddled with cracks and was too heavy for him to carry far at any great speed. Speed that would no doubt be essential in the next few hours.

Not to mention it was fucking useless against anyone that wasn't mortal. His vision flashed red as he launched it across the room into a large pillar, where it splinted into dozens of flecks of wood.

Reaching for the helmet, Percy set about trying to pull the spikes off the top – the helmet was made of celestial bronze, so maybe it would prove useful at some point. It was odd for such a well-made helmet to be found in Tartarus, then again cyclops were great crafters. But the stubborn things were welded with careful precision so it was a lost cause.

The helmet was heavy and far too big for Percy's head, snarling he pushed it away as well.

Useless.

He could search the rest of the keep, try to find some armour or even a pair of shoes. But considering the dismal state of the weapons hall, there was little hope of there being anything useful anywhere else in the keep.

It was an empty shell that had already been raided.

Fucking useless.

"FUCK!" Percy shouted. Ignoring the echoing and the silence. Instead, he took up one of the larger shards of bludgeon and charged at a pillar and started beating it like a mad man. He whacked at the pillar over and over again until the wood in his hands was no bigger than a needle.

Then he discarded that and began pounding with his fist until his knuckles were bruised and bloodied. Eventually, his burst of energy left him and he slid to the ground, curled up against the pillar as if he was seven-years-old again. Young, lost and frightened. His breathing was ragged and his body ached fiercely, what hurt the most was how useless he felt. Just like that fucking bludgeon.

Slowly, he reached for he t-shirt and pulled it up to that he could look at the name tattooed there.

 _Percy_

That was the only thing he knew about himself for years. All he had to his name was, well, his name. marked in his skin in blue-green ink by someone he couldn't recall for reasons he couldn't fathom.

At first, he has bared that name as if it were a great title. He'd introduced himself to anyone he'd come across: I'm Percy. Call me Percy. My name's Percy.

Until the name started to taste like acid in his mouth.

Once he'd come home from a trip where he'd raided a den of some monster that he hadn't given two shits about, without permission, of course. When Kronos found out, he was absolutely furious.

Apparently, Percy had broken into the lair of one of Kronos' most trusted advisors, Iapetus. Even though the Titan hadn't been that mad about the encounter – after all Percy didn't take anything of any literal or sentimental value – Kronos beat Percy within an inch of his life.

 _Now,_ the Titan King had hissed down at Percy's shattered form, _maybe you'll think again about stealing from those above you like a common tomb raider._

Since then, Percy wore his new title 'Raider' as a badge of honour even after the last cut had scarred and bruise faded.

Now, Percy would give anything to be that guy again. The guy that took a beating and turned into a name that burnt its way across the lands of Tartarus. He took a mistake and made a legend.

Percy, on the other hand, took a defeat and did nothing about it.

Despondently, Percy sat in his curled-up position and pitied himself for a long while.

Shifting in his hunched position, Percy felt something cold dig into his hip. He reached down to find out what it was and found a perfectly smooth, plastic object.

Pulling it out he found himself, for some odd reason, with a pen.

"The heck…" Percy muttered running his fingers over the clear surface and then peering at the blue ink capsule inside. Ruthlessly he hunted for some aspect of the pen that would prove helpful. Finding none on the surface he tapped his finger irritable against the cap of the pen.

"Here goes nothing," he mumbled to himself. As he wrapped his hand around the cap, goose bumps rose on his arms and his heartbeat rattled in his ears. In one smooth movement, he ripped the cap off.

In a second.

Far too fast for the naked eye to see.

The ballpoint pen expanded into a bronze sword.

Then, in true Percy fashion, he tilted sideways and passed out.

And woke up in a river.

* * *

 **THALIA**

"I say go to town, Miss Grace." Nico gave her a wicked smile which he smoothly turned to the blubbering girl. She was muttering about a saviour and how she was too young to die.

A stupid sentiment; if there was one thing Thalia was certain of, it was that you were never too young to die.

"If you make one more sound, I will break your little finger. If you make another sound, I'll break your ring finger. Do you get the gist?" Thalia demanded at the girl who obediently fell silent but nodded passionately.

"Good," Thalia praised because she really didn't want to break some fourteen-year-old's fingers. Luckily, she was an accomplished liar.

"Who is your boss?" Nico demanded. Thalia clenched her teeth in irritation but repeated the question when the girl remained silent.

"I don't know his name. He calls himself… calls himself… Backbiter…" she sobbed. Thalia shushed her whilst the cogs in her head spun.

Turning to Jason she asked, "Isn't that Kronos' sword?" Jason shrugged. Oh yeah, he was Roman. Leo, however, was Greek and nodded at her inquiry.

"Right, I'm assuming that's a metaphor." Leo turned to Piper for confirmation. The latter just nodded very slowly, as if making sure that Leo was fully aware that it was most definitely a metaphor.

"A metaphor for what, exactly?" Frank asked the group. No one deemed him with an answer.

"Kronos' sword…" Leo snorted, "I can think of a few thinks that might symbolise." Hazel huffed and slapped at the side of Leo's head musing up his brown curls.

"Maybe it's more like Kronos' warrior or something?" Jason suggested. Nico seemed to be examining a knife as if the solution would be printed on its side or something. Thalia would eat her hat if it was.

"So this guy is Kronos' best fighter? That can't be good." Frank summarised. Thalia frowned thoughtfully, something about that statement seemed wrong to her.

"Hey, just a thought, but isn't Percy Kronos' best warrior." She pointed out. At the name, the girl in Thalia's hold began to blubber uncontrollable. "The heck is wrong with you?" Thalia cursed trying to reinforce her control over the girl but it was like the girl had drunk a whole truck full of Redbull and was now bursting with energy.

"Percy. Percy. Percy. Percy." The girl shouted, spittle flying all over the place. Not that that seemed to embarrass the teenager at all.

"Is that his name? Your leader, is he called Percy?" Piper demanded. The girl laughed hysterically, shaking her head rapidly.

"No Percy is not the leader. He is the thing Backbiter wants like nothing else, he wants Percy. Wants Percy. Wants Percy. Percy. Percy." She broke off giggling again, seeing that she would be no more help, Thalia freed one hand and pulled it back, fully intended on knocking the girl out but a slither of sanity seemed to break past the insanity clogging the girl's brain and she met Thalia's cold gave with one of fire.

"You are the bait, Percy is the prize he will set us free." She gargled. Thalia's hearth pounded as she curled her hand into a tight fist.

"Too bad you won't be there to see it." And then she stole the girl's consciousness and let her lithe body tumble to the ground. For a second they all stood there in contemplative silence, and then they all began to talk at one.

"What did she mean by 'bait'?" Jason asked loudly to a befuddled Leo.

"Why, Grace Junior, I'm so glad you asked." A sharp pain pricked Thalia's neck and then the world faded.

* * *

 **I don't really have anything to say here... that's weird.**

 **How about a simple Haiku instead?**

 **I really hate it when it rains**

 **So leave a review**

 **I'll write the next one faster**

 **(No I'm not excited about Trials of Apollo, what gave you that idea?)**

 **HAPPY EASTER**


	30. Chapter 30 - Ready or not

**So sorry about the delay, but life suddenly hit me and I had to deal with that before trying to write anything.** **I could give you a detailed list as to why this chapter is so late but I imagine that you're all not that interested. Enjoy a longer chapter.**

 **Because I have to leave the house in like, twenty seconds. I will have shout-outs up tomorrow, that ok?**

* * *

 **PERCY**

Darkness scattered as Percy opened his eyes, he blinked owlishly trying to remember where he was. Yet his mind was hindered by a hazy fog of disorientation, and he remained lost as to his location. It was becoming clear that this was a natural occurrence in the life of Percy, as this had happened a great (concerningly great) number of times. However, the familiarity of the situation did not make the situation any more pleasant.

He took note of his surroundings, he tilted his head back and pressed himself tight against a smooth wall. He was curled against it as if trying to drain some sort of comfort from its bronze surface. Carefully, he dragged his knuckles against it, searching for imperfections in the bronze surface. Finding none he turned his palm and lay it flat against the wall, fascinated by the beauty of it - walls not stained with marks and dents were uncommon in Tartarus; always harsh edges and deep scars brutalised surfaces and left them uncomfortable to touch.

Looking down he saw his lower half was submerged in a river. One that did not seem to flow nor seemed to really be touching him at all. Ducking down, Percy dipped his fingers in – no ripples danced from his fingers nor did water coat them. An illusion then, fascinating. It was not deep; hardly reached his knees and beneath its crystal-clear surface the floor was as bronze as the walls and as smooth, albeit more emblazoned with intricate patterns.

Flawless.

The cleanness of the area was unfamiliar and should have sent him into a fit of cautious panic. Yet despite its oddness, he felt perfectly comfortable and safe.

Suddenly, his instincts kicked in without any warning and Percy jerked gracelessly to his feet. Looking down at himself he noticed that someone had exchanged his tattered rags for a hideously orange t-shirt and restricting blue jeans that he did not want to be forced to fight in. Curious, he pulled the t-shirt away from his flesh so he could try to get a good look at the strange logo on the front, annoyingly it was too faded to derive any information from.

Whoever had decided on his makeover had a seriously poor taste. Come on, in what universe was orange, blue and white (the colour of the ridiculously tight pair of shoes on his feet) going to somehow band together to form a stealthy, flexible outfit that would suit the whole being in Greek Hell kind of thing.

The socks were fluffy though, which was a definite bonus.

"Are you quite finished staring at yourself, young Perseus?" a cold voice asked, seemingly amused. Percy crouched down to the ground, legs wide for balance and bent for manoeuvrability. He was all but moulded into the wall and although it was smooth, being pressed against it in a defence stance was not all that comfortable. Still, he ignored all that and groped his thigh for one of his knives only his palm met scratchy jeans, not soft cotton and a lethal blade. Mentally smacking himself because obviously his weapons were gone, he awkwardly patted himself down for a weapon, a seemingly futile search until his palm pressed against a small cylindrical object in his pocket.

"I am not here to harm you, young Perseus." The voice droned on monotonously. Percy scanned the shadows for the figure but there were no tell-tale signs of anyone being there.

"Don't call me that," Percy snarled, fumbling to get the thing out of his pocket. "That's not my name." After a large amount of awkward shuffling, it was finally free and he clutched it defensively in his palm.

"It is the name your mother," Percy tensed but the voice – definitely female – continued without fault, "gave you. You may prefer your new names but that does not make your history any less true or any less important." Percy scowled at that, how did this woman speak of a past with so much confidence and conviction when Percy himself hardly knew a thing about his own origins?

The voice was warm and seemingly friendly, an attempt to present herself as nonthreatening perhaps. A good try, but Percy had already fallen for that one, and knew all too well that it was the soft-spoken ones who could inflict the most painful of wounds.

He did not uncap the pen but rolled it between his fingertips. Ready to release the blade hidden if needed.

"That boy is dead," he growled out, feeling the voids in his memory as if they were bullet holes in his skin.

A patronising laugh resounded from one of the darker corners of the room and out of it stepped a woman. A typical feature of ancient deities was an ageless face, and this woman had such features. At first glance her hair seemed ebony black but if you looked too long and you would spot little silver streaks near the roots. Yet these imperfections made her face seem more youthful, so her age was impossible to decipher. Her skin was flawless – a typical characteristic of an immortal – but was an unusual colour; a soft blue that shifted like water when it caught the glow of the torches symmetrically placed around the room.

Said dark locks were pulled back into a long braid that fell to her knees and her face was perfectly plain with colourless eyes and cracked lips. She was still stunning with her gentle features but she was certainly no Aphrodite. Her dress was unique though - Percy had certainly never seen anything like it before. It was simple and clung softly to her figure which wasn't what made it so fascinating, rather the source of his awe was the images stretched across it.

It was like hundreds of projectors were pointed solely at the outfit and each one was playing a different movie. Percy caught a few of the images but most were overlapped with too many others to be identifiable.

In one young fair-haired child sat curled up into the street, shoulders shaking periodically and in the one next to it a man ran across a field seemingly chasing something out of frame, in another a dog was peeing on a bus. Why anyone would want that printed on their outfit was a mystery to Percy. Hopefully, it was just a glitch of some sort.

The woman stood silently as Percy's eyes darted from image to image but eventually her patience must have worn thing and she cleared her throat softly. Percy darted his gaze back to her face, feeling oddly abashed.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously - no immortal being had ever taken kindly to someone somehow not knowing their identity. In their opinion, all mortals were meant to spend every moment of their entire existence making sure they knew the identity of every Greek deity. As a result, asking for their identity was disrespectful and rude and, therefore, and agonising death was the only thing they deserved.

His caution was well placed after several painful introductions to a few gods over the years.

This immortal was clearly unlike most others; she promptly answered the question as if she had been waiting for it. "Do not worry for your naivety, young one, I am the daughter of Eris. My domain of Oblivion and Forgetfulness," she smiled thinly at him. The expression didn't seem to fit her face and it fell away soon after appearing. Percy's thoughts swirled for a moment like a compass trying to re-find its faithful north.

"There are five rivers in Tartarus," he started slowly. The goddess cocked her head, perplexed, "The Phlegaton, Styx, Acheron and the Cocytus river. The last, and perhaps the cruellest of all, is the Lethe. Where spirits sacrifice their memories so they may live their life a second time around… or where wicked beings steal memories from prisoners so that they may never know anything but blood and war and pain." His words rose steadily in volume until they echoed cruelly through the hall. The goddess stared back at him, face blank.

"It's your river, isn't it?" he asked slowly. She gave no audible response but he didn't really need one anyway. The resentment in his chest burned bright enough to burn away the fog of confusion. It left behind an undeniable clarity.

She was the goddess of Forgetfulness, she had his memories.

"You're brighter than the world gives you credit for. I do wonder whether that will prove a blessing or a curse before the day is done." Her voice was deep and scratchy as if it was the first time she had spoken in centuries.

"Why did you bring me here?" he hissed furiously. he took a reckless step away from the safety of his wall to get a closer look at Lethe's face. Part of him hoped to see regret on her fine features, yet all he saw was determination; purpose. "I don't have time for whatever errand you have planned. I have to…" he trailed off, unsure as too how much the goddess knew or how much she should know. "I have to stop them."

"Elaborate, young warrior, do not fear my wrath or my ignorance. Neither shall befoul you today." She spoke to the beat of some impossibly slow drum as if they had time to spare. Percy's forehead crinkled and the only thing he could see was scarlet red.

Keep calm. He tried to meditate in his head to reel in his rage, but it was pointless:

He was an unclaimed demigod. The son of some god that believed him dead and gone. His only friends were monsters, giants even Titans. His mother was dead, killed for no reason except petty pride.

Not to mention the whole rotting from the inside out thing. Which truly was the icing on the most disgusting cake the universe has ever baked.

Once a foul man had come to Tartarus, punished by Hades for a crime he refused to acknowledge, let alone share. Once, Kronos had sent Percy to investigate the man – to sniff out whether he'd make a powerful ally for Kronos to leash. The guy had coerced Percy into joining him in a poker game – the first and last Percy would ever play. Cut a long story short and Percy ended up losing badly, as Percy lay on the ground, young and bruised, the man had whispered the words in his ear that would echo through his mind if he was alive:

Only ever bet against someone when you have nothing more to lose.

"Kronos, the King of the Titans, is rallying to slaughter the army of traitorous mortals who plan to unleash themselves and every other creature that was locked down here upon the world. They will kill anyone and destroy anything that comes between them and Olympus. Thousands will die. In retaliation, the gods of Olympus have sent a bunch of underage children down to Tartarus under the ridiculous illusion that they could stop the apocalypse based on a few past battles one on one perhaps even one on two.

"Tartarus is dying and it is going to take me down with it. Ergo, I don't have time left to talk to a goddess who has a nasty habit of taking things that don't belong to her. Apologies Lethe, but I will do you no favour and I will give you no sympathy.

"Now. Let. Me. Go."

The silence after his rant was obnoxiously loud. Lethe's face remained still as steel until it shifted into a wicked grin – cruel and proud.

"You think this is entertaining?" Percy spat, he flicked the cap off his pen and unleashed the weapon within. Just as before, a metre-long sword grew gleaming like gold in the firelight.

"I think that people heavily underestimate you. I hope it's an overview they never forget, I'm sure I never will." Her voice was lighter this time around, filled with mirth. "In regards to my favour…" she prompted softly – throwing gasoline over an open flame just to see what would happen.

"Here's a crazy idea: do it yourself." Percy scoffed pushing his hand through the bangs falling over his forehead, momentarily he was caught off guard by the silkiness of them. Did Lethe wash his hair? That's a bit strange but felt amazing, like a young animal's pelt.

"Well, I had hoped you would be willing to cooperate but it is becoming apparent you would like proof of how it will be beneficially to both parties."

"How considerate of you to grant me some answers as to why you kidnapped me and brought me here," Percy muttered under his breath. Lethe chuckled and shook her head. Her mile-long braid swung like a rope as she moved. Her dress hardly faltered, images still danced across the fibres, children playing together to girls limping down dark street heads held high.

"I brought you here because there are things at play that you cannot comprehend," she took a deep breath as if preparing herself for what was about to come. "When Zeus… killed your mother, and sent you down here he upset the strings of fate. You were meant to live a life as a demigod of Olympus. A hero's life." She reached down to an image on her dress and pressed it gently and pointed her hand towards him.

His vision stuttered and died before it resurrected as something completely different. A young man, possible sixteen maybe even older, sat on a beach with a blond-haired girl. The two were chatting happily and smiling - Percy's heart clenched as he realised he recognised that blond girl and the dark-haired teen sitting next to her. They seemed to happy, faces turned to one another as if they were content in their own world and didn't need to fear any demons sneaking up on them whilst they had the other there to watch their back.

The image faded and Lethe's sympathetic smile replaced it. At some point, Percy's knees must've given out because he was once again curled against the wall with the goddess crouched in front of him.

"You were meant to have that life and it was stolen for you. Now the world is paying for it. Your father seethes in his kingdom silently plotting his brother's demise and your outcast uncle yearns for the same revenge. Olympus is stood strong on broken foundations – it will fall of its own accords. Tartarus crumbles under the force of Kronos' fury and you," she chuckled again, "you are the catalyst in all of this."

Percy blinked at her, the meaning behind her words not dawning on him.

"It seems almost ironic that the world seems to be revolving around you when most of it doesn't know that you even exist," Lethe explained softly.

Percy, drowning in understanding, buried his head in the soft flesh of his arm and tried to steady his swaying heart. He had known, of course, that deep down he didn't really belong in Tartarus. That his home – his true home – was somewhere warmer and safer. Not the kind of place where he had to sleep with a knife under his pillow and his heart in an iron cage.

It was something else entirely to hear it from the mouth of a goddess.

It was a glamorous way of informing him that everything that had gone wrong in the last sixteen years was all his fault.

 _You are the catalyst in all of this._

How could the catalyst that started the war looming over them, have any hope of stopping it?

"I have to stop him." He muttered into his arm. Trying to remind himself what he was fighting for, a task that was much harder than it should have been. He drew a deep breath, trying to clot his bleeding emotions, and raised his head to meet the goddess' calm onyx eyes.

A god being patient with a mortal, who would've thought?

Lifting a single finger, Percy traced the deep scars on his arms. They were like a script, he mused. His own tale carved so deep in his flesh that it may never be erased. The bumps and grooves of his own mistakes, but a few – a very small few – were calculated mistakes. Let this one opponent cut him down so he may remain in the middle of the pecking order so that Kronos would see him as a threat. Percy had witnessed first-hand the carnage Kronos could unleash once he feared that his position was being threatened.

He'd made sacrifices hundreds of times; he could do it again.

"What do you need me to do?" Percy questioned, raising his head to meet Lethe's sparkling eyes. Passion bloomed across her face, and the goddess smiled in glee.

* * *

 **NICO**

"…careful… boss… slaughter…hurry," Nico grunted his way back to awareness, his head spinning as if it were trying to shadow travel without taking the rest of his body with it. A highly unsuccessful method of escape.

Someone had their hands around his wrists and another's grappled with his non-responsive legs. They grunted and complained as they lifted him from that ground and began to slowly carry him uphill to somewhere. Typically, Nico had no clue where.

So, he did the responsible thing that any battle-trained demigod would do: he played dead. The two people above him were huffing as they lugged his dead weight higher and higher.

"How much further?" one of them asked the other. The voice sounded distinctly male and… young. Possibly even younger than Nico and yet they were in Tartarus? What could a child possibly have done to warrant such a punishment?

"Not long now." The other replied, voice high with optimism. This voice was starkly different: female and ancient to the point that treating her with respect was no longer an obligation but instinctual; here was someone who knew their purpose, knew who they were and had no doubts that they were doing the right thing.

The younger voice huffed again in frustration and began trying to pull at Nico's arms faster as if his impatience alone was strong enough to abolish the distance between them and their destination. In retaliation, the woman carrying his legs softened her pace from a brisk walk to a casual stroll.

The younger signed in annoyance, the older chuckled. Nico's heart clenched painfully in his chest – mother and son. There was no doubt about it.

Families, rotting together in hell. It was almost poetic.

Eventually, the humorous tirade grew stale and their pace balanced out to its original hurried state. Nico's body shook in their loveless hold, swaying to-and-fro like a sack of vegetables. He supposed to these people there was no point in treating him as a person, as anything more than a prisoner.

To them, he was simply a loyal follower of the pantheon of Olympus; a child of one of its gods. He supported the ones that sent them here… he must've been no more than another monster to them.

Behind his eyelids, all was dark (as it always is when one's eyes are closed) until, through them, Nico caught a glimpse of light. His vision turned red as he was carted off towards a well-lit room. Or cave. Or tunnel.

It was all relative at this point.

"Which one's that?" A voice called down from somewhere above him. It was another bitter reunion; the voice definitely belonged to Ethan Nakamura – Nico would know it anywhere. He fought to keep his instincts caged down, one defensive move and it would all be over – no matter how strong the desire to tear out the boy's one remaining eye.

"Hades' spawn, sir." The young boy chirped proudly. Ethan grunted and apparently bestowed some non-verbal direction upon the two as they pivoted slightly then set off in another direction.

In the distance he heard Ethan asked, presumably, another pair who their captive was: "Pluto's spawn," the reply came. Nico's hand reflexively twitched with the urged to clench into fists, the only thought echoing through his head was:

Hazel.

Hazel.

Hazel.

In tune with his own heartbeat, the words burned their way through his veins and he hissed in anger. The boy holding his arms gasped in panic and spewed out a single word in a language Nico had never heard before.

"This one's awake!" the woman shouted, voice monotonous. His consciousness seemed to be no more than a minor inconvenience to her. His legs and arms were released in near perfect sync and Nico fell to the ground.

He turned in the air so that he landed on his back – rather than his face – and rolled swiftly to his feet. An armoured guard (demigod?) swung an axe at his chest, Nico jerked back before it could catch him. His attacker was clearly unused to the weapon; the force behind his swing had been too much and he was dragged to the side by his heavy weapon. Nico hooked his foot around the man's ankle and yanked him off his unsteady footing, he tumbled to the ground, cursing profusely as if the vitriol pouring from his mouth would morph into a fatal curse.

Yanking the axe out of his fallen foe's grip, Nico tumbled out of the way just in time to avoid an arrow to the thigh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ethan charging towards him – knife in hand.

Torches shuddered and danced as people reached for the weapons and charged for the rogue son of Hades. Except Nico had trained for years and his opponents for months. An advantage? Perhaps not. After all, it was one thing to learn how to disarm and tackle mortal opponents – the technique taught at Camp Half-Blood – and a completely different thing to be taught how to kill people – Luke's preferred curriculum.

A woman leapt off a rock and raised her knife over her head. Nico punched the butt of the axe into her sternum, knocking the wind out of her until she fell to the ground, gasping. Another man charged for Nico's axe, trying to disarm the demigod but Nico darted to the side and smacked the guy on the rump with the flat side of the blade-head.

A young girl darted for his ankles with nothing but a battle-cry on her lips and nails pointed like claws. Nico darted to the side to avoid the child, dodging the girl as turning his back on her to face his neck opponent.

Out of nowhere, a blinding pain erupted in his hip. Nico gasped in shock, the pain blinding and encompassing until his motions faltered and his right leg disconnected from the ground. He fell to one knee, the axe sliding out of his grip to the dirt where its metal reverberated obscenely against Nico's laboured breath. Looking down he saw no wound where the pain was radiating from in white bursts in incineration agony. Reaching back to the back of his hips he felt out the wound, his breath stuttered as he found the handle of a blade. He made to wrap his hand around it but the moment he jostled it slightly, his vision clouded over with darkness and his body toppled forward until he was on his knees before the group of enemies, standing over him like vultures.

"You demigods never change, do you?" Ethan laughed, emerging from the crowd with his obsidian eyepatch burning copper in the amber light, his armour impeccable and his grin sharp and unbreakable as diamond. Nico hissed furiously at him wishing he could muster the strength to spew venomous words in his face and watch the wounds sink in, yet his mind was full of the screams of the wound and his tongue felt useless and limp in his mouth.

"You always assume your dominance." Ethan continued loudly. "You always assume that you have more training that we do, that you are far better at fighting than a group of misfits and outcasts could ever be. I can acknowledge that in some cases that may be true, in fact, more often than not with this lot that will be true. Only, you have a habit of forgetting one important thing, Son of Hades." Ethan crouched down near Nico and rested a skeletal hand on the back of his neck, the gestured almost comforting until he reached down and grabbed the handle of his knife.

Nico cried out, hot tears rolling down his cheeks as his vision faded again. He tried to focus on Ethan's words but the pain blasted through all of Nico's awareness until the only thing that remained was pure, unfiltered agony.

Ethan leant in close and Nico, glowing with hatred, spat a glob of saliva right into Ethan's cheek. Grim satisfaction cooled Nico's body down until everything became almost bearable, then the Son of Nemesis' Cheshire-grin widened.

"You forget that whilst you are trained to live, I'm trained to kill," with that, the boy wrenched the knife free from Nico's hip and everything bleached white and Nico screamed. Hot liquid drenching his side and he fell back to the ground, a wet sob slipping past his lips.

His cries echoed off the cavern walls and rattled down every corridor. It was hard to think that it was just a knife wound when it felt like an accumulation of every ounce of pain he'd ever felt in his short life, and then some. It wasn't even his first wound, not even close to his worse, yet for some reason, it hurt so much more than anything Nico had ever felt before.

It felt like he was dying.

Maybe he was dying?

In a heartbeat, everything changed. It felt as if something had finally clicked into place and the pain dimmed slightly, like a rabid dog finally yielding to its master and backing down in submission.

Blood dribbled down his lips, scorching his skin as it went. Nico fell still and turned to face Ethan, face wide open.

At that precise moment in time, and that moment only, the two boy sudden had a seamless understanding of one another; Nico understood the addictive desire for revenge, and how it could trick you into thinking it was peace, happiness rather than what it really was; regret and a feeling as if your life was completely out of your control.

Ethan saw in Nico's eyes the same thing he always saw in his own: grief. The knowledge that the world had tossed you aside before you were strong enough to stand up to it. He knew that they both knew how draining it was to fight against fate every minute you're alive and then to sit down and wonder if it was all worth it.

The feeling you get when you look yourself in the mirror and wonder how you ended up being this person. Being an enemy to those who used to be your friends.

Grief, for your own life that you never got to live.

And then that moment of comprehension ended.

"I'll kill you," Nico gasped through the liquid clogging up his throat. Ethan pressed his scarlet knife to the demigod's chin and forcefully tilted his chin back until they were eye to eye.

"Will you now?" Ethan goaded, amused. Nico softly ducked his head towards Ethan's ear, and Ethan let him, not aware that he was inviting death in. Giving himself over to this being before him that, although he could understand the motivation of, he had no idea just how powerful this boy was, or the power of his hatred. "You forget yourself, Ethan Nakamura. You use big words and brag about your victories, yet you are as foolish as the gods you despise. You forget," Nico crooned out, voice like steel. "that I am capable of teaching myself a thing or two."

Ethan chocked out a groan of agony as the Son of Hades' body began to infect his own with unimaginable agony. Nico hid a smirk in the creases of the boy's neck. Reaching his palms up he cupped both sides of the one-eyed devil's slim throat.

"And I taught myself how to win." Nico, with his remaining strength, yanked Ethan's neck around to the side. Under his sweaty palms, Ethan's tendons and muscles pulled taught in restraint and the boy's eyes widened in panic and his eyes swam with tears.

No mercy for the cruel.

The bones gave way and the Son of Nemesis' neck snapped. Just like that, it was over and Ethan's eyes clouded over.

In front of them, the crowd members muttered to one another. Watching these two teenagers brutalise one another as if it was a tv show, a theatre production. Hands raised to cover wide mouths and a mother raised her hand to mask the grotesque twist of Ethan's neck from her son's curious gaze.

All was silent as Nico lowered Ethan's body until flopped to the ground with a dull thud, the same noise any falling object made. Strange how Nico had always imagined it would sound different.

He struggled to imagine that a dead person was so similar to a dead animal. After all, they were so different from everything else. Bursting at the seams with hopes and dreams. But death is not biased and has no favourites. Death was always consistent, always so different to how you imagined it.

"He… he… he killed him!" a young man stuttered. Pointing an accusing finger in Nico's direction. As if the crowd of spectators had somehow missed that momentous event and needed it clarified.

In any case, the others joined in. They waved cruel fingers in Nico's face and spat poisonous words:

"Murderer!"

"Monster!"

"Freak!"

The accumulation of their rage rose up like the tide and crashed down on Nico as one unforgiving force. Nico stared at his watchers, letting their words roll off him one by one until he was numb to it all.

A bit like that opera Will Solace had taken him to a few years back. Words loud with power but lacking in true meaning.

He stared at his oppressors in the eye, one by one, until their voices trailed off and the cavern was silent once more.

He raised a weak grin and whispered, "Who's next then?" to which many of them flinched back before suddenly becoming enamoured with their hastily tied laces or the alluring dance of the beacons' fire.

"Our leader will be along shortly." A kid proclaimed with confidence. Nico recognised the voice as belonging to the boy who dragged him here. The only one who seemed unfazed by the shadows swallowing Nico's eyes or the blood staining his side.

"Will he now?" Nico replied, amused.

The boy nodded rapidly, his dark fringe jumping with the movement. A woman broke out of the crowd and moved slowly towards the boy, eyebrows high and breathing erratically. She moved as if Nico wouldn't see her so long as she kept her movements calm and her steps periodical.

"Yeah. He's coming for you and all your friends. They're all tied up and can't move, the only one who can fight is you and you're wounded." The boy shrugged, "you'll never win."

"'All tied up'" Nico quoted, smirking. "I think you may be forgetting something."

Nico let his head roll back so he could stare at the jagged ceiling. For a moment he was convinced that he could see stars in the cracks – light piercing the darkness. Then he inhaled and breathed the iron tang of his blood and realised that it was impossible; there would never be any light in Tartarus.

"Or rather, someone."

* * *

 **PERCY**

When Lethe reclined, her grand plan finally laid bare before them, Percy hesitated. Part of him saw that if (a very strong if) the plan winded up being a great success then all was saved. A far larger part of him though one thing:

"That is never going to work. Not with my luck and the fact our 'might team' legitimately only consist of you and me. Not the best plan, Lethe." Percy hissed. Lethe must've been completely mad to even debate the merits of such a reckless strategy.

"You may not believe in my plan, I can see that." Percy folded his arms and huffed. "Yet I have been plotting this for a while and I trust in its merits. It will work and it may just be the only way to save your life, Perseus." Lethe snapped in a rare show of that hidden rage.

Her dress swirled with darkness as the memories playing on it faded into nothing. From the remains of their predecessors, new images formed: a figure with a gun and a mask, a woman with a knife and a glare. Even two cats hissing over what seemed to be the remains of some sort of animal.

Percy sighed in acquiesce and began thinking through the logistics of the plan. It seemed impossible; so unlikely to be a success or worth the risk. After all, if Percy was too make even a slight mistake, hundreds – if not thousands – would perish.

"It's the last thing anyone will expect." Percy realised.

When Lethe had finally deemed Percy worthy enough of hearing her 'flawless' plan, the two had moved to a table on the other end of the room. Right next to a fireplace and a bowl of seashells, when Percy had asked about where she'd got them from, Lethe had kindly informed him that her river brought other things aside from misery. That her river held enough gold to rebuild New York from the ground up without using up so much of a fraction of her wealth.

Percy struggled to comprehend that, having no clue what New York looked like. But the pride on her face gave him an idea that New York was very large and possibly quite grand.

He hadn't gotten a chance to ask her before she'd launched into a descriptive explanation of her plan.

Deep in thought, Percy subconsciously reached out and picked up one of the shells – a cantharus, his mind supplied helpfully. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand but sharp enough to dig into the soft flesh of his fingers when he clenched his fist around it.

"It will work, Perseus, I am sure of it." The goddess murmured, her dress returning to its previous state as her offence drizzled away into serenity. Lethe reached out and rested a hand on Percy's wrist, the contact made Percy shiver but he made no effort to move out of her comforting touch. Her skin was painfully flawless next to his marred flesh. It was a brutal reminder that he was the expendable one in this partnership. What's a mortal compared to a goddess?

"What if it doesn't?" he whispered, face burning with shame as soon as the words left his lips. He was the Raider of Tartarus – he was supposed to fear nothing. He'd grown up under the claws of the best of the worst, yet he was scared, if not terrified.

"I am sure you can imagine what your failure will cost you and the world. You must not fail, Perseus." Lethe tightened her fingers around his bony wrist, the action was likely meant to sooth yet all it did was make his pulse quicken. He felt shackled.

Percy chuckled under his breath, curling his unoccupied hand into to his hair and pushing it through the locks for the millionth time in the last hour. No doubt the repetitive abuse left it defying gravity and knotted, probably making him look ridiculous but couldn't bring himself to care, not with what was at stake.

"You make it sound like failure is an option." Percy breathed shakily, trying to re-orientate himself - a ship in a storm trying to right itself against the towering waves determined to drag him down.

"In my philosophy, it is."

"If you stand on the edge of a cliff for no reason except to admire the view, when suddenly you feel someone shove you and you fall. You may not want to die but the fall will kill you anyway, have you not failed? Failed to spot incoming danger, failed to live. Failure is not always your fault, in fact, it hardly ever is. How can you avoid it when everyone else is the cause of it? Failure is the result of someone else's success. I don't believe in success because no matter what you do, _someone has to fall for you to fly_." Throughout his speech, he'd managed to keep his voice level and his body still. At least until the last sentence when his voice cracked and his hand began to shake around the delicate shell in his grasp. Looking the goddess in the eye seemed far too taxing of a task so instead, he focused his attention on the shell in his hands. It was a pink colour with darker red colouring to the tips of its ridges as if to emphasise the danger hidden there.

"If I do nothing they succeed," he whispered to himself. Laughing he tightened his hand around the cantharus, "now I'm sure I'm mad because I'm in."

He grinned at Lethe, and the goddess mirrored the expression.

* * *

 **THALIA**

Panic engulfed the room like gasoline on fire. People darted from side to side grabbing up any items that looked vaguely weapon like and then dashed in a group towards where all the yelling and grunts were coming from. The room emptied, from about thirty people to a just a handful in a few moments, obviously, someone was causing a raucous, which Thalia was very thankful for. As it neatly handed her the perfect opportunity to organise her escape.

Apparently, no one in this powerful army had any common sense. They had not the brains to wonder whether tying her up was a good idea. Not that she was complaining; it made her job a whole lot easier. It was hard to see why they had all been afraid of Luke and his forces, if this was really the best he could do then they had nothing to worry about, hopefully.

Sure, Luke and Alabaster seemed dangerous and not lacking in motivation, however, two on eight wasn't good odds no matter who you are. Especially when those eight were all children of some of the most powerful gods to ever live. Not exactly a fair fight no matter your skill with a sword or the efficiency with magic.

Thalia shifted slightly as her legs tingled back into consciousness. Unexpectedly, a voice (female) above her bellowed "Shit, another's wake!". Thalia flinched at the noise before lashing out, she swung her leg around in an arc and knocked the girl over. She landed in a bundle of mucky hair and long limbs, Thalia was on her in an instant.

She pressed her hand to the girl's thin lips and coldly commanded: "not a sound," in her ear. Wisely, the girl stayed silent - maybe this one had a few brain cells after all, - glaring icily at Thalia. Her limbs pressed against the ground and her arms remained crossed over her chest protectively.

Patting her down, Thalia searched systematically for a weapon. Nothing; nothing on her arms and legs, not even a dagger at her hip. Sighing in annoyance, Thalia leant down to mutter in her ear:

"I do wonder, are you simply stupid enough to roam Tartarus without a weapon or are you too dangerous to arm?" Thalia murmured in the girl's ear. The girl's eyes widened and then narrowed into slits. Given the way the girl ran her tongue along Thalia's palm in response, it was likely the answer was the former.

The girl was useless to her so Thalia brought her fist down on the girl's temple twice - once to knock her out, twice to ensure she stayed that way, the girl made no sound as her muscles relaxed and her body fell still, eyes closed. Certain the girl was neutralised, Thalia sought out for a weapon one more time but once again found nothing. It was time to move on, she decided. Rising to her feet she tiptoed towards the hill that was in the middle of being hauled up before everything descended into chaos.

It wasn't a hard climb. Usually, she would've hardly broken a sweat at the physical activity. Yet due to the last few days consisting of a lot of labour and not a lot of food or water, she was panting by the time she reached the top. Her head spun fiercely leaving her disorientated just long enough for another person to spot her:

"Look over there!" he yelled presumably to his companion. Thalia grunted in irritation: why didn't that girl at least have a knife on her? A bow and arrow maybe?

Frustratingly, this guard was armed, with a razor sharp looking spear at that. And given how his stance shifted perfectly to accommodate the weight of his weapon, he had definitely been trained in how to use it. Thalia dropped into a crouch, ready to roll away at a moment's notice if the boy sudden threw that spear at her.

"Get the others." He ordered the younger kid standing next to him, the boy's mouth was agape and his eyes were big. He looked so young, hardly over the age of twelve. At the order, the youth snapped out of his stunned state to shoot a quick look at the guard before huffing and taking off at full speed down another torchlit tunnel.

"Our leader wants you alive, but I suppose you don't need all of your limbs for that. I can have some fun before he comes along to destroy you," the boy… no man, Thalia realised, purred. He looked at least twenty years old with a wicked white scar sliced down between his eyes before curling off towards his ear. His hair was near white under the grime and his eyes marked with scars of happiness.

Thalia said nothing, the man smiled and opened his mouth to make another comment, but before he got the chance, the room filled with the familiar burning smell of ozone and the man choked as a rift opened between his ribs. He looked down at the spearhead protruding from his chest with panic before his eyes rolled back into his skull and his body tumbled to the rocks beneath. Thalia would recognise that spear anywhere; it was her own. Standing over the broken body was someone that Thalia was unexpectedly pleased to see.

"Annabeth," she breathed in relief. Annabeth threw the spear carelessly to the ground and delicately stepped over the body at her feet, not sparing it a glance as she marched towards Thalia. Her grey eyes were outlined by coloured clay that may have been brown or red – in the dark, it was hard to tell, and her hair was streaked with black and tied back in a tight ponytail.

She was dressed like them, Thalia realised. She was dressed for war.

Thalia pushed herself to her feet, becoming aware that she was perhaps not as safe as she had first thought. Annabeth, no doubt reading the look of worry on her face, quickened her pace.

"I'm sorry Thalia, it's not personal, but I've come too far to fail now." The Daughter of Athena apologised before grabbing Thalia by the shoulders with inhumane speed and pinned her to the ground. Thalia had no time to react before she was rolled on her front and Annabeth was tying her hands together behind her.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Thalia demanded into the dirt beneath her face, thrashing wildly. Annabeth hardly seemed fazed as Thalia bucked furiously under her.

"I have no choice, Thalia, I know you don't understand yet but you will soon." Annabeth soothed as if Thalia was an infant receiving her first ever jab at the doctors, confused as to why she was being hurt as someone she cared for greatly watched by.

"I don't give a flying fuck! Get off me!" Thalia tried to find purchase in the mud but her feet slid over it like socked feet on ice. Annabeth finished with her hands and reached up to press her hand to Thalia's neck and pushed her face into the ground, applying just enough pressure for Thalia to instinctively fall still. Then she began wrapping up her mouth too.

Malicious curses morphed into muffled barks and grunts. Satisfied, Annabeth wrenched Thalia to her feet with a firm hand around one of her looped arms and her dagger pressed into the small of Thalia's back.

"We're almost there now Thalia, don't you worry," Annabeth smirked as she lead Thalia forward into the arms of the enemy. "We're in the end game now."

* * *

 **PERCY**

The sword in his hand was sparkling clean and perfectly balanced. His armour was light and flexible and, obviously, impenetrable. He felt invincible, even as his insides slowly rotted.

"You know what you must do now, Perseus?" the goddess asked one more time as she gathered up various items in a small bag which she neatly tied to Percy's belt. Her hands were steady and her gaze was strong, yet he was under no illusions that she was any less terrified than him.

They both had plenty to lose if they failed.

"I sure hope so," he smiled. Lethe patted his hair one more time before handing him a helmet. It was beautiful, just like the rest of the armour but seemed a bit over the top. As if reading the hesitation in his gaze, she nodded to herself and put the helmet to one side. Instead, she reached for a hood which attached to the neck of the back piece and then pulled over his head, it hung just low enough to hide his hair from sight but didn't obscure his vision at all.

Then she pulled up some fabric and tied it carefully to the rest of the hood so that his mouth and nose were covered. He looked like an assassin, it made him feel hidden and dangerous. He was impossible to identify aside from some his green eyes that glistened with purpose.

Nodding again, the goddess stood back and let Percy adjust the hood himself.

"Try to remain anonymous for as long as you can; if Kronos begins to suspect your presence…" she trailed off. Percy said nothing but sheathed his sword back as a pen and buckled up the holster for a small dagger – just in case – to his thigh and attached his quiver to his back. He only had twenty arrows and an old bow, but it would have to do.

He turned to face the floor length mirror and admired the complexity of his disguise for a moment. The armour was grey with just enough silver in it to enhance the sharp bits and his face was masked by light blue fabric. Carved in the armour were ridges and groves, every one of the purposeful – to repel arrows or bullets.

He looked like a giant seashell.

"Let's get this show on the road," his voice was hardly muffled by the fabric covering it, which was a bonus. He turned away from his reflection, only just realised that he had never really seemed himself in a mirror before.

"I would hardly call it a 'show'." Lethe scowled. Percy laughed at that, a bit louder than necessary. His hands shook as he slipped his gloves on, nerves jumped inside him like that had years ago.

When he was leaving for his first ever mission, not his last.

"We'll see," he smirked at the goddess who stared at him impassively for a long moment, long enough for Percy to begin to feel self-conscious before smiling softly and disappearing into a cloud of fog.

Percy frowned at her sudden departure, suddenly feeling overwhelming alone. Somehow he wasn't sure he'd see the goddess again, he wasn't sure why his chest tightened slightly at the thought.

'Alright, Percy. Let's do this,' he thought to himself as he shook out his stiff muscles and set off in a jog towards the heart of Tartarus – the Doors of Death. As soon as he exited Lethe's manor his vision darkened and his heartbeat stuttered – the curse was back.

Death was creeping up on him again.

Unlike before, when the pain and dizziness set in, his pace never faltered as his drive was too strong and he pushed any thoughts of giving up to the back of his mind.

 _If you succeed, I will return your memories should you chose._

Lethe's voice flooded his senses and his pace shifted, a light jog became a run. He charged through the halls of hell as if Kronos himself was at his heels. Ahead of him, a hellhound let out a startled bark and charged at him.

He felt no worry as his hands moved automatically to his swords, he popped the cap off and held it between his teeth, both hands cradled the grip and he swung as the hellhound pounced for his head. The sword sliced through the dog's chest and it vanished in a shower of ashes. He recapped the pen and returned it to his pocket.

He was not Percy any longer, he was Raider and he had a job to do. Nothing was going to stop him this time.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading xxx**

 **There may be a wait for the next chapter because I am aiming for longer chapters with a bit more editing than I usually do. Also we are reaching the end of story, which is sad but hey, for a while I thought I'd never finish this monster so, that's a bonus.**

 **Anyone read The Burning Maze, cause DAMN**


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